Not Another Spring Break Story
by An Cathal Toirmisce
Summary: Well…maybe it is.Follow Lucy Pevensie on a vacation over spring holiday where she'll learn about trust, love, and how they don't always go together. Edmund/Lucy Peter/Susan/Caspian MODERN DAY AU. It's weird but give it a try. R
1. The Cair Paravel revised

_***Revised* I changed the ages to keep things IC, thanks to a hole in my story caught by Princess Lucy. Thanks for that!**_

_**I do not own Narnia or the Narnia characters. **_

_**A/N: This is going to be weird. Please just give it a chance.**_

**Not Another Spring Break Story**

**Chapter One**

**_The Cair Paravel_**

That wasn't so bad, Lucy thought as she stepped out of the huge first-class airplane into the blinding sunlight of the Bahamas, using her hand to shield the sun rays from her eyes, she turned around to try and find her older brother, Peter, come off the plane. Silently, she wished that this spring break could be a little more like the others. Every year she would spend vacation with Peter and they would always do something fun—just the two of them. But this year was different. This year, Peter had a girlfriend. This year, Peter had a _rich _girlfriend.

Not that Lucy minded Susan. She thought it was very generous to let her come with them to her father's hotel over the break (though a 13-year-old girl couldn't have very well stayed at home alone for two weeks, now could she?) but she got the nagging feeling that she'd be confined in the hotel suite all day and night while Peter and Susan went off and did something romantic. Regardless, she'd try to have fun.

That is, she'd try to have fun if her feet would ever stopped sweltering. She was beginning to regret wearing converse. Actually, her entire outfit was somewhat inappropriate for the scorching weather. True, she was wearing shorts, but her shirt was dark red, and the sunlight seemed to know it, as it seemed to hurl its rays down to her exclusively. At least she had sunglasses in her bag. She swung the bag off of her shoulders as she picked out the oversized sunglasses, put them over her eyes.

"Lucy!" She heard Susan call her, "We're over here!"

Lucy spun around as she sprinted to her brother and his girlfriend. _They _were both dressed for the weather. Susan had on a pale blue off the shoulder shirt over her short jean shorts. Peter was wearing his swim trunks along with a plain light red t-shirt. "Finally!" Lucy panted, "it's getting really warm."

Susan smiled, her beautiful face amused, "It's the Bahamas, Lucy, of course it's warm. We should go to the hotel, anyway, though. You can change into something cooler there."

* * *

The _Cair Paravel _was unlike any vacation spot either Lucy or Peter had ever been to in their lives. Arches that were in reality aquariums attached the three large buildings that scraped the beautiful blue sky. Each building gave the impression of palace-like grandeur as it overlooked four amazing white-sanded beaches. Cabanas were scattered all around them. The two siblings stared at it slack jawed and couldn't believe they'd be spending two weeks in a place like this. Susan just smiled, "It's a bit much, yes. I tried to convince Dad that the indoor/outdoor pool was too much next to the beaches, but _no_ he simply had to have it."

Susan directed the Pevensies into the first building, and immediately the brother and sister's jaws dropped with a moist sound. The inside was far grander than the outside. Arches, drapes and chandeliers covered everywhere. Lucy looked out of what appeared to be a tinted window when she saw a shark swim by, several windows were aquariums as well. Lucy was suddenly comfortably cool; the air conditioning seemed to sedate every last nerve in her body.

"I'd hate to stand in that long line," Susan said, directing her hand to the line of vacationers waiting to check in, "I guess we'll have to go to the manager's office to get our keys if we don't want to wait."

And so, they set off at a lively pace to a beautiful wooden door marked,

**DLF Trumpkin **

**Manager**

"DLF Trumpkin?" Lucy read aloud.

"Yeah. Dwayne Lucas Frances Trumpkin. It's more wise to just call him Mr Trumpkin, though." Susan put her hand on the glass doorknob. "Shall we?"

Mr Trumpkin's office wasn't nearly as impressive as the rest of the hotel. Light was let in dimly through curtains. The room was carpeted with an ugly brown, unlike the rest of the hotel that sported amazing wooden flooring. The craftsmanship of the furniture was pleasant, though. At a black wood desk, a rather grumpy looking man was sitting at the chair. He was little, but still seemed like a person you'd rather not meet in a dark alley without pepper spray. He had a sandy beard that, along with his hair, had streaks of whitish gray. He was speaking into a black phone, "Yes…. yes…. no…. yes, I'll see to it that someone gets on it straightaway. Yes…. have a nice day. Good bye." Though the man wished whoever was on the other end a nice day, his expression was bitter and cranky as he hung up the phone. "Now, Susan. What can I do for you?" Again, his expression didn't change.

However, Susan's beautiful face was cheery, "It's been awhile, Trumpkin. I'd like my rooms now. Suites 4230B and 4231B."

"I know." Trumpkin fiddled with a stack of papers, "Didn't you check in at the desk?"

"Line's too long. I know you have spare keys. So, just hand them up, and we'll give them back once the line goes down."

The man sighed loudly, "I have a hotel to run. Understand I have better things to do than make sure you, Blondie, and Redhead over there don't get bored in a line."

"That's right!" Susan was awfully cheery, perhaps it was just the air, Lucy thought, or she had some vodka on the plane. "This is my boyfriend, Peter Pevensie." She presented Peter with pride and love in her eyes, as if he was the best thing that ever happened to her, "and this," she put a hand on Lucy's shoulder, "is his little sister, Lucy."

"Charmed, I'm sure." Trumpkin said, obviously not at all charmed, or interested, for that matter, in who Susan's company was. "Fine, then. Take your keys." He handed Susan three brass keys.

"Thank you." Susan called over her shoulder as she turned to leave the office. They called a bellhop to send up their luggage as Susan directed them to a giant elevator.

* * *

"Does he ever smile?" Lucy asked, stepping into the glass elevator.

"I think I saw him smile once," Susan murmured, punching the elevator button marked floor 29, "but turns out it was a trick of the light, Sorry, I tried to get the penthouse but somebody else rented it out before me, so we're on the second top floor, I hope you don't mind."

The floors whizzed by, and through the elevator, Lucy could see everything. Some floors dedicated to simply suites for living quarters, even those were amazing, the wooden floors polished and pressed, the ivory doors glimmered by the light of the chandeliers. Some floors, though, were restaurants looking over the hotel, beaches, or built in shopping complexes on floors under there. Each floor brilliantly crafted and themed in this way or that; under the sea, Renaissance, modern day, and so on. Lucy was sad when every floor whizzed by, wishing she could see them longer.

Peter snaked his arm around Susan's waist and murmured something into her neck that got Susan giggling before swatting at his chest playfully.

"Child in the elevator." Lucy called when Peter and Susan had started to get a little too friendly.

The elevator clicked as the clear doors swung open and a stout little man who resembled a beaver with his watery eyes and bucked teeth, hobbled into the elevator. "Hope I'm not interrupting too much, eh, Susan?"

Susan smiled, "Mr Beaverton! I didn't know you were coming back this year. How's the Mrs doing?"

"Fine, jus' fine." Mr Beaverton smiled, as he punched the 12th floor button, "She's waitin' fer me at one of th' restaurants. Dunno which one though." He chuckled, "So, this yer boyfriend?" he motioned to Peter.

"Yes," Susan smiled, "Peter, Lucy, meet Mr. Beaverton, he was the head contractor for building this place. Mr. Beaverton, meet Peter and his little sister, Lucy."

Brief small talk emanated until the screen in the elevator reading, "29" They bid Mr. Beaverton farewell before stepping out into the hallway.

* * *

Room 4230B was wrapped in glitz. Lucy plummeted onto the large white leather couch and relaxed on the beautiful blue pillows to stare at the glimmering sea shown through an enormous wall-to-wall window. She put her sunglasses on the beautifully crafted ebony coffee table. "Wow," she murmured.

"You like it?" Susan asked, "It is quite lovely, yes. I do always ask for one of these two rooms when the penthouse is taken. I just love the view. Here, let me show you the bedroom."

The bedroom was warmly colored, but comfortably cool, with two king-sized beds against a woodwork wall. It had charming green carpet that led out to an ivory balcony with a small table, and lounge chair. "Bathroom's down the hallway." Susan instructed, "Map's in the sitting room. Um…I think I'll go and see how Peter's settling in next door." Susan waved and left. Lucy wondered how often Susan would be sleeping in her respective suite or in Peter's.

She grabbed her suitcase, already brought in on the bed by the bellhop, and looked around in it for something cooler to change into. Reluctantly, she decided on her red swimsuit under her shorts and cover-up t-shirt. She didn't want to walk around the hotel in that kind of clothing, but she had only packed enough for the two weeks and didn't want to dirty anything before it had to be. She tied her hair up into a ponytail at the side of the base of her neck. She grabbed her sunglasses and headed over to Peter's suite

* * *

"No way. No effing way." Peter sounded solid on this. How could he let his _baby sister _wander around a completely strange hotel _alone_ dressed like _that_?

"Peter. Relax. It's hot, and I just want to check out the hotel, I won't go out to the beaches or anything. I just want to find my own way around." Lucy also seemed determined on doing what she wanted to.

Susan butted in, putting her arms on Peter's shoulder, "She'll be fine. Besides, I want to show you the most romantic place at this joint." She began to blow in his ear, and Lucy looked away.

"Child in the room!" She called again.

**A/N: So…should I finish it? Review to tell me what you think!**


	2. The Bet and Calf revised again

_***Revised* I changed the ages to keep things IC, thanks to a hole in my story caught by Princess Lucy. Thanks for that!**_

_**A/N: Wow! I wasn't expecting so many reviews! Thanks so much to all of you! **_

_**Yes, Caspian is based off of movieverse Caspian, just because it fits better with where they are, that a dark Caspian would be there over a blond Caspian. **_

_**I don't own anything. **_

**Chapter Two**

**_The Bet and Calf's Brains_**

Under one of the smaller of the cabanas on the white sanded beaches on the _Cair Paravel _two boys sat. One looked in his late teens and there were only three words to describe him; tall, dark, and handsome. In his swim trunks and a shark tooth necklace, he looked like some sort of Greek god or Abercrombie and Fitch model. He had his eyes on a pale girl with dark hair dressed in blue; the heiress of the hotel he worked at: Susan Paravel. "Look over there. Hundred out of ten." He said to his companion, speaking in a soft Spanish accent that could seduce nearly any girl on the planet.

The boy next to him wasn't nearly as blessed in the looks department. He was pale with scattered freckles across his nose and cheeks, even for spending so much time in the sun that he did. A mess of dark brown hair sat on his head that looked like it could be from the nameless kid who sits in front of you in school. He had on plain cargo shorts and a white t-shirt that read, "_ McLovin" _On his lap was an old and worn guitar. It didn't look like it was about to fall to pieces, but it did look as if it had several years of music accumulated on it. He looked up at the girl his friend was staring at, "You're right, Caspian, she's hot but look, looks like she's already with someone." The boy gestured toward the girl again, and now there was another person next to her. A blonde boy was sitting on the sand next to her, whispering something.

Caspian's face lost it's tan glow, "You're right, Edmund." He sighed, "But that doesn't mean I can't try to be her friend." His face started to get its glow back.

"Caspian," Edmund said, "You can never be _just friends _with any girl. They either hate you, don't really care for you, or _want_ you."

"Exactly." Caspian smiled

Edmund rolled his eyes and continued to tune his guitar. He had known Caspian for almost two years, ever since he came to work at the _Cair Paravel. _Edmund knew, for a fact, that Caspian had never failed to get the girl. Sometimes he ended perfectly happy relationships because said girl wanted Caspian too much. Not that Caspian was a jerk or a player, but it's hard not to get the girl when you have the face (and body) of a god or Abercrombie and Fitch model.

Edmund never had such luck. He had tried a few times to pick up girls on vacations, used the best tricks he knew, but always the same answer, _I like you Edmund, but I just want to stay friends._ Or _I don't approve of long-distance relationships _or even bursting into hysterical laughter right in his face. "It might not turn out like the other times." Edmund murmured, strumming the strings with his thumb to make sure they sounded right. "She looks really into that bloke over there." He could tell, even from a distance that the heiress was possibly in love with her companion.

Caspian shrugged, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained."

"If you're so sure that you'll get her this time, care to make it interesting?"

"No thanks, I prefer not to bet on people's emotions."

"She'll never find out. Simple stakes. If you can't hook up with her by the time she leaves you'll give me half of one of your paychecks. Reversed if you do."

"No. I don't want to do it."

"What are you, a baby? She won't find out."

Not wanting to be called a baby, Caspian gave in, "Fine. But, you have to find a girl for you to try and hook up with _her _by the time _she _leaves. Same stakes."

"I'm fouteen, Cas. Isn't that concidered statutory rape?"

Caspian concidered, "Fine. You just need to get close enough. Deal?"

Edmund knew that he couldn't go back on that, but he knew that it was somewhat unfair, seeing that Edmund _never _got the girl and Caspian _always _got the girl. He sighed, "Fine."

They shook on it.

* * *

Wandering through the ivory hallways of the _Cair Paravel _on the way the restaurant he worked at, Edmund couldn't help but wonder what he just signed up for. All the girls at the hotel were highly out of his league, all rich and airbrushed. It looked like he was going to give half his paycheck to Caspian when he took a double take on a girl who walked by. _She's kinda hot_, he thought. She looked only maybe a year or so younger than him, with jean shorts, and a netted cover up t-shirt showed that she had on a swimsuit under it all. Her red hair tied to a ponytail at the side of her neck. He saw her face, which was attractive enough, not drop-dead beautiful, but not ugly, was looking at a map in her hands.

Not quite realizing what he was doing exactly, he started to walk toward the girl, "Excuse me?" he said.

She turned around, her bright eyes piercing into his, intense on their own accord, even though it was apparent she wasn't thinking of anything particular at that moment, "Yeah?" she asked through a thick British accent.

Edmund raised his eyebrows; it wasn't very common to hear a voice similar to his own at that place, "Uhm…" _Think fast, Ed, think fast! _"Isn't your email address: ?"

"What?" The girl looked confused and scared at the same time.

"Sorry." Edmund apologized, "I need to improve my people skills." He scratched the base of his neck.

The girl smiled a little, "I see…. well…at least you broke the ice?" she offered.

"I guess." Edmund shrugged, "If I'm going to be completely honest, I was wondering how old you are."

The girl raised an eyebrow, "Why?"

"I wanted to know if it'd be appropriate to ask you to lunch."

The girl's cheeks slightly flushed pink, "Well…in that case…. I'm thirteen."

The boy smiled, "In _that _case, I'm Edmund."

"Lucy."

"Lucy, would you be kind enough to accompany me to a midday meal?" He took on an overly proper guise that made Lucy smile as she nodded and said, "Lead the way."

* * *

Peter Pevensie did not like Caspian. He did not like Caspian at all. What in the world gave Pretty Boy the right to walk up to his girlfriend and flirt with her as if Peter wasn't even on the beach?!

"He was flirting with you." Peter growled when Caspian went back to his cabana.

"I know." Susan buried her toes in the white sand. "What's your point?"

"And you don't care that some guy is flirting with you _right in front of me_?"

"He's the cabana boy, Pete. He's practically _paid _to flirt with pretty much _everyone_. Don't read too much into it."

Peter sighed, "Fine, but if he singles you out, I swear, he's dead."

Susan giggled lightly, "He won't….are you getting hungry?" she tried to change the subject.

It took some decision, but they decided to go to the restaurant on the 16th floor—the restaurant that _was _the 16th floor.

Susan led Peter into the glimmering restaurant, then directed her attention to the smiling hostess, "_Bonjour, _Polly_, déjeuner pour deux. Non fumant si vous pouvez gérer._"

They were directed to a shining table near a window that didn't seem like any glass accompanied it. Peter could almost feel the ocean breeze against his face.

"I didn't know you spoke French." Peter said, pulling out a chair for his girlfriend to sit in.

"Just that I needed a table for two for lunch. _Merci, _Polly_._"

"Hey, Su, is that Lucy?" Peter asked, gesturing to a booth where a girl was sitting with some brunette boy.

Susan craned her neck to see, "Yeah, I think it is. Why?"

"Get down!" he dragged her behind a plant, "I don't want Lucy to think we're spying."

"By hiding behind a plant, in a way, aren't we spying?" Susan stood up fully, and crossed her arms across her chest.

"Sssh." Peter waved his hand at his girlfriend, who rolled her eyes, "Who's she with?"

Susan looked over, "Looks like Edmund Just— "

"He looks seventeen!"

"He's fourteen." Susan sat down and nonchalantly looked at her menu. "Frog's legs or calf's brains? I'm partial to the calf's brains, myself, but I haven't had the legs in a while."

Peter ignored the food question, "Why is he eating with Lucy?"

"No idea." Susan seemed somewhat bored on this subject, however Peter was very interested. "Should I just order for the both of us?" she gave a menu to the waiter.

"Yeah…whatever." Peter now stood and sat in his chair, "What do you know about this guy?"

"_Deux __cervelle de veau, _Raoul. _Merci." _Then she directed her attention to Peter, "Little to nothing. He came from England about a year ago to work…he's a busboy at one of the restaurants and a check-out guy at one of the stores....he can be an arse at times, but he seems nice enough overall." Peter's eyebrows furrowed, Susan tried to change the subject, "I think _Tumnus and the Fauns _are playing in the lounge tonight. Do you think you'd like to check it out?"

"Yeah…sure." Peter seemed out of it.

Susan sighed, "Peter…would it be awful to stop spying on your little sister long enough to eat your calf brains?"

"What am I going to eat?"

* * *

Lucy had noticed them when they came in the door. "What is Peter doing behind a plant?" she whispered.

"Sorry?" Edmund asked through a mouthful of chicken.

"My older brother and his girlfriend just disappeared behind a plant." Lucy shrugged it off and stabbed her chicken with a fork before putting a little into her mouth. She chewed and swallowed before covering her eyes with her hand, still giggling. Edmund spun a quick and witty joke about man-eating plants.

Maybe this vacation wouldn't be so boring. She did, after all, make a friend. A friend with amazing eyes. A friend whose eyes looked like Nature, with the dark portion the color of upturned earth, the flecks of light brown were mica scattered around various places. She would've been able to point out at least twenty other guys that would be more likely to be on some sort of magazine for the top 100 most attractive men in the world. But, for some reason, her eyes were locked on Edmund's.

She knew what it was like to fall for a boy quickly; she had had crushes before. The thing she didn't know was how long and hard her fall for Edmund Just would be.

_**A/N: Gosh. OOCness follows me like the boogeyman! I'll try to get a handle on it. I hope you'll review anyway! **_

_**I used a crappy online translator for the French bits, so if you catch anything wrong, please tell me and I'll fix it. **_


	3. You'll Take It For Granted

**_

* * *

_**

I don't own Narnia.

**_Chapter Three_**

**_You'll Take It For Granted_**

The early morning sun shone through a gap between the green curtains, sending a light beam into the room. The light beam sent itself right into Lucy's eyes, waking her up with the sudden warmth and brightness. She smiled as she woke. Back in England the air would've still had the sort of cold punch that winter gave as it's curtain call, but here the air was already incubated even at eight o'clock in the morning. She brought her arms above her head, the soft sheets still brushing her forearm then, she locked her legs and pointed her toes. Finally, arching her back as to make the stretch complete.

Sitting up in the bed, facing the window she spread apart the curtains to let in the morning sun. It looked as if the air was warm and salty on the other side of the glass. Several gulls flapped their wings and squawked as young children scared them off of the sand at the beach. The beaches were filling up, even in the morning. Lucy could see the entrance to the pool from her room, and it appeared as if it was almost full to capacity. Sailboats and speedboats were out on the ocean, giving it the look of a living, breathing painting. All three buildings of the _Cair Paravel _stood up tall and proud as they scraped the sky, leaving a small cut of thin clouds. Suddenly, Lucy thought that maybe Susan was still sleeping in the bed on the other end of the room and might not take kindly to the bright sunlight.

Lucy spun on her heels and looked over toward the bed next to hers: no Susan. The bed seemed so nicely made that it looked as if no one had slept in it at all. Lucy had always had the feeling that she'd be spending most of the nights in her large suite alone, but now faced with it, the whole idea made her feel rather lonely. There was, however, a small note on the white pillow:

_Lucy, _

_We went to breakfast and didn't want to wake you._

_You can order room service, or go to one of _

_the restaurants. Susan recommends the café _

_on the fourth floor. We'll be on the _

_beach near the giant pile of rocks if you need us. _

_I don't have my cell phone with me, but  
Susan's number is on the back of this note._

_Love, _

_Peter _

Lucy sat the paper down and began shuffling around. She never was one to simply sit around, so after getting dressed (shorts, light yellow t-shirt under her swimsuit in case she decided to go swimming) and applying sunscreen to her arms, face, back, stomach, and legs,she read the room service breakfast menu. There really didn't seem to be anything that she would have liked to eat at that moment, besides, wouldn't room service be more expensive than going to a café? She grabbed her backpack and began looking around inside of it for her wallet (she never was one to want to carry a purse) when her cell phone began to play "_Shake It_" by Metro Station, indicating that she had a text message.

She looked on the screen; "_1 New Text Message from 'Ed' " _she began to read the message itself, _'mornin hotstuf, it b edmund, im almost off 1__st__ shift wana meet smewhr if u up 4 it?' _

She smiled as she began to text back, _'sure. I just got up. Where do you wanna meet?" _

Maybe two minutes went by before she got the text back, "_Um…idk. Wat do u think? How bout the restaurant on 4 flr 845?" _

'_sounds like fun." _Lucy's fingers tapped the numbers on her phone, "_see you in forty five mins." _

Lucy was happy that Edmund had taken the initiative to text her and invite her to spend time with him. Not that she wouldn't try and find him to spend some time with him anyway. It was simply reassuring that he was putting his hand out for friendship, at the very least.

* * *

After spending the evening in the velvet dining area considered a lounge and listening to _Tumnus and the Fauns _play their soft rock music, Susan took Peter to the roof where they danced to the music inside their heads. "What do you think?" she asked him.

Peter looked off the side, staring at the moon's glare on the water. "It's pretty…. come here, Su." He held out his hand. Susan looked confused but gave her hand to Peter, who spun her around, and looked at her against the ocean, "Now it's beautiful." He said, making Susan smile and blush.

They were the first ones on the beach that morning; they had come to the sand and surf, when the moon still stood out pale white against the pure ebony skies. They had run towards the waters, where they had begun to run around in the tides, splashing each other with handfuls of salty water.

Peter ran towards Susan, and putting his hand around her waist, spun her around and they fell onto the wet sand, side by side.

Peter propped himself on his elbow, looking into Susan's eyes, "I love you."

Susan grabbed Peter's shoulder and pulled him down to her, kissing him. "This is fun." She said, after they had stopped.

Peter sent his girlfriend a toothy grin, "Want to have even more fun?" before a high tide wave covered them, soaking them both entirely.

They sat back up, spitting mouthfuls of water out of their mouths, and continued their chase games until the sun started to peak up above the horizon, when they went back in to the building to dry off and get some breakfast.

* * *

Lucy stood at the doors of the restaurant on the fourth floor. It was a small breakfast based café with wooden floors and cream and pink colored walls. Lucy took her own seat at a light pink booth. She unfolded the menu and looked at the different breakfast foods. Hotcakes, eggs, and bacon of many varieties mostly made up the menu. She ordered a coke and waited.

Edmund came by in shorts and a white collared t-shirt. A cream colored apron was over it all. "Hey, Lucy." He said, "I'm almost done. I'll be out in a minute."

After Edmund came out and sat across from Lucy in the booth as she ate her eggs. "So, what do you want to do?" Edmund asked.

Lucy shrugged, "Well, what's there to do?"

Edmund picked up a pamphlet, "Let's see…there's always a million things to do, swimming, swimming with dolphins, boating, water skiing, shopping, movies, etcetera, etcetera." He held the pamphlet out to Lucy.

She took it, "Hm…I don't know. What would you recommend?"

Edmund shrugged, "Wanna see the aquarium?"

* * *

"Sorry I'm running late." Caspian said, exasperated, stepping under the cabana. "Edmund didn't fill up the car with gas."

"That's not my problem," His boss—a tall and intimidating man—snapped. "Be here on time if you want to keep your job, boy. Do you know how many boys would be grateful to have a job cleaning the scum out of the pool filters at this hotel?"

"Sorry, Uncle." Caspian murmured, "I'll remember that." He then took a pool net and began to clean the bugs out of the hot tub.

He didn't hate his job, he quite liked the warm feeling the sun gave, he liked getting to give drinks to pretty girls on vacation, but the thing he did hate was working for Miraz. Ever since Caspian's parents died Miraz acted like hiring Caspian was doing him some sort of favor, as if Caspian couldn't get work anywhere else. If he wanted to, he could've gotten another job that much was certain.

* * *

Edmund! This is amazing!" Lucy called to her companion, staring at the colorful

schools of fishes swimming around in the aquarium at all directions. The aquarium was bent over in an upside down U shape and looked took on the purpose of a tunnel. Lucy stared in awe of all the colors.

"I guess it is." Edmund shrugged, "But I see this stuff every day."

"How can you not find all _this_—the fish, the hotel in general—simply amazing?" Lucy gestured around to all of the scenery.

"When you see something every day of your life, you start to take it for granted."

Lucy slightly frowned at Edmund; she couldn't get how anyone could take the amazing views of the sea for granted. She could never get tired of it. She turned back to the glass.

Edmund stared at Lucy. The light penetrated through the water giving her face a bluish glow. He had to admit; she looked very pretty. He remembered what he had to do and felt a little guilty; her dark blue eyes looked entirely innocent as they scanned the fish. Edmund could feel his face get hot, but _why_?

"Why are you staring at me?" Lucy asked curiously. Now standing at his side.

"What?" Edmund was startled, "I was staring? Sorry."

* * *

The sun was high in the sky, and they walked side by side on the boardwalk, no talking, just watching the waves crash on the shore, feeling the cool breeze against their faces. "So…Edmund," Lucy said, "how did you come to work at the _Cair Paravel_?"

He scratched the base of his neck, "You really wanna know?"

Lucy nodded slowly, "Sure?"

Edmund walked a bit faster, "All right, I never really had parents," he past a plank of wood and put his hand on it, half circling around it, "I was a street kid for awhile, but eventually I went into something that was supposed to be foster 'care', but the person who was supposed to take care of me was the devil herself. She beat me and kept me in the basement. I tried to escape and tell a police officer," he sighed, "Officer Moulgrim, he was working for her. So, after getting severely beaten, I ran away, where I met a lawyer named Digory Kirk who became my new foster dad, we moved here because he was going to become the hotel's official attorney, but we were in a train wreck and he didn't make it." Lucy put her hand on his shoulder, "But Trumpkin was an old friend of his, and helped me get a job and allowed me to live in his old condominium a few miles away from here with Caspian."

Lucy bit her lip, "Wow." She squeezed his shoulder.

"Well, it turned out all right. I got a good job, a roof over my head and, hell, I get to spend a lot of time at a five star resort. Not to mention I'm on the boardwalk with the hottest girl on this resort."

Lucy blushed, but she couldn't help but wonder why Edmund talked to her like that, she knew she wasn't the prettiest girl in the world, why then did Edmund make her feel like the only other person in the country?

_**A/N: So….if you could please review on your way out, just to let me know how I'm doing, I'd appreciate it very much! **_


	4. Dinner Date

**_Chapter 4_**

**_Dinner Date_**

If you'd step down from the grandeur of the shimmering Cair Paravel and go east a few miles, you'll find a small condominium building that didn't even look as if it belonged on the same planet as the Cair Paravel. The black bricks were old and worn. The door up front had a long scratch going down it vertically. The interior had ugly gray carpeting that greatly resembled the carpet in Trumpkin's office. The paint was peeling on each wall, revealing torn gaps in the plaster. The place looked like it should be condemned.

Behind a brown wooden door with the brass numbers, _43_ on it someone was playing a tune on his guitar, he strummed the strings, frowned, and tried some other chords. After getting a comfortably pleasant tune he smiled before sitting up on the old futon and heading into the kitchen to get something to drink. Instead of using the doorway, that only held a doorframe and hinges, he jumped up and slid through a large open window like gap in the wall on to an old stone counter. He pulled a black spider off of the refrigerator door before opening it, he considered what to have; there was some stale cheese, some peanut butter, some boxed wine that shouldn't have been there, some pizza rolls, a carton of milk about to go bad, several lunch packets of Pringles, a quarter of the way empty carton of grape juice and a packet of Oreos. And people wondered why he and Caspian spent most of their spare time at work. He heard the front door open and close, looking out the window he saw a very tired Caspian enter, "Hey." He called, pouring some milk into a glass cup.

Caspian waved before putting Edmund's guitar on a moth-eaten armchair and collapsing onto the futon. "You almost got me the sack today."

"I told you I didn't have the money to fill your car with gas." Edmund entered the living area the same way he entered the kitchen, through the "window". "Besides, now that I've got the moped I won't really need you to get around. So there's not much reason to do the interchanging gas payments anymore." Edmund explained to Caspian who sighed and put a light denim jacket over his face.

Trying to break the silence Edmund asked, "So…how's it going with Susan?"

Caspian blew air out of his mouth loudly, or that's what it sounded like under the jacket, "Miraz worked me too hard today. I didn't even get a chance to say hi when she and what's his face came to the pool." He took the jacket off of his face relaxed his head on the cushiony surface of the futon, using the jacket now as a pillow.

"That sucks, man." He started to walk down the hallway, calling behind him, "'Cause I got a date tonight."

* * *

Lucy sat on the white leather couch, the large window open wide, the sunlight sent warmth to her face and the breeze moved several loose strands of her burgundy hair. She was absorbed in a hardcover copy of _Les Miserables _she was just getting to the ending when Susan came out of the bedroom area, wearing a pretty black cocktail dress that strapped over her right shoulder. She viewed her reflection in a full legnth mirror, running a hand from her left shoulder, across her collar bone, to the right shoulder. The other hand was slowly and absentmindedly ruffling her skirt, as she swayed from side to side, creating a surreal effect.

"You look nice," Lucy said, setting the novel down, "So, where's Prince Charming taking you tonight?"

"Huh?" Susan turned around, "Oh, nowhere. There was a two-for-one sale at one of the stores, so I bought this—there's always some reason to dress up at this place, anyway."

Lucy nodded, "I see." She shot a look at the watch on her wrist, it was almost eight, "Do you guys have plans for dinner?"

"Not much," Susan said, stepping back into the bedroom, "We're probably just going to a restaurant. Want to come with us?"

Lucy sat up, "I have plans…. a date, actually." Saying the word 'date' was exciting and new to Lucy, the word lingered on her lips, giving her a feeling that started at her chest then spread to the tips of her fingers and toes. The same sort of feeling she got when she found out that she would get to see her favorite band (Tumnus and the Fauns) live on this trip, only that time it was bigger and more sedating.

The door swung open and Susan came out at a remarkably fast pace. Her clothes looked rushed on, as if she had attempted to put them on in less than two seconds, if you could even consider her fully dressed, in a tank top and the fly on her shorts wasn't even buttoned. "You do? Give me the details!" she sat down on the couch so quickly that she skidded on the leather more than six centimeters. She fixed her fly, and straightened the askew strap on her tank top.

"What do you want to know?" Lucy asked slowly.

"The basics, who asked you, where you're going, how he asked you, what you're going to wear, you know that sort of thing…just tell me who you're going with…" she already had a feeling that Lucy was going with the boy she had spent all her time with since the first day there, "and what you're going to do, those are some of the most important details…"

"Edmund Just asked me, I don't know where he's taking me though…he said to dinner, but that's all I know."

Susan nodded, "Dinner…. What restaurant?"

"I don't know." Lucy shrugged.

"Did he mention if it was dressy or casual?"

"No."

"Well then how will you know what you're going to wear?"

Lucy shrugged, "I guess I'll just wear this."

Susan raised an eyebrow. "You're not going to do anything different?" She eyed Lucy, in simple shorts and a light yellow t-shirt; she didn't look like somebody who was going to go on a date.

Lucy looked around, "Should I?"

Susan nodded, "Probably. Here, can I help you get ready?"

"Okay…" Lucy shrugged.

Susan led Lucy into the big bedroom where she looked through Lucy's things, before she decided on an outfit. Then she sat her down on her bed. "Thanks for letting me do this." Susan said, grabbing several elastic hair ties. "We never get to do anything fun together…. do you mind curls?"

Lucy continued to get groomed by Susan. She was thankful that Susan was doing this, when Edmund asked her out on a date, she didn't think that much into it. They had been 'out' before, but this time it was _out_ out, she realized that now. Though the precautions Susan was putting into it made Lucy a bit nervous. What's going to happen? She wondered.

There was a knock at the bedroom door and Peter's voice sounded on the other end, "Everybody decent?"

"Come on in." Both girls called simultaneously. Peter entered the room, and then looked at them with a somewhat bemused expression. Susan explained, "I'm helping Lucy get ready for her date." She put a few bobby pins in her mouth while holding a curling iron in her left hand and shuffling through a jewelry box with her right.

Peter's eyes held concern, "You're going on a date?" he said to Lucy.

"Yeah," Lucy said, "with Edmund Just. We're going to dinner."

"Can I get a chance to meet him?"

"I don't really know, to be honest. We're meeting in the lobby, but if he walks me to my room maybe you can."

Peter nodded, then went through some things with his little sister, she had to be back at eleven, or else he'd go and look for her, and Peter said that if Edmund in any way made Lucy feel uncomfortable or violated, to run away immediately and that he would get his pepper spray and hunt Edmund down like a fish.

* * *

When Edmund had first asked Lucy out on a date, he honestly didn't think she'd say yes. She seemed to like him, but other girls Edmund had tried to pick up seemed to like him, that is, before he asked them out, in which case he got shot down or laughed at. But he was hoping that she'd be willing to go out.

They were in another aquarium, a place Lucy simply loved, but Edmund couldn't get why. What in the world was so fascinating about fish? he wondered. "Lu?" he asked, "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure." She turned from the fish to face him.

Her blue eyes made Edmund's heart race. _Get a hold of yourself, Edmund. _He thought, _the worst that could happen is that she'd say no…or laugh at you…or kick you where it hurts…maybe this isn't the best idea. _

"Erm…. do you wanna go and…. eat dinner…. with me? Like on a date?" He had raised his hopes to the sky, and his heart had stopped beating, the world stood still waiting for Lucy's response.

Lucy's lips spread into a smile, "Yeah…sure…. that'd be fun."

Edmund could've sworn he felt the Earth move.

* * *

Susan and Peter were spending the evening quietly in Peter's suite. They ordered less than fancy room service (chicken fingers and sprite) that led to a bit of romance after which they decided to watch a movie. Susan leaned in on Peter's chest and wrapped a comforter around them. She adjusted the strap on her tank top as she whispered into Peter's ear, "I could stay like this forever."

Peter was glad to hear Susan say that. He knew he could, he loved Susan more than anything in the world, and yet she never said the three words that meant the most, but showing him her feelings by her actions and the other things she said, had to compensate for her apparent inability to say "I love you."

* * *

Eight o'clock came and Edmund waited in the lobby, he checked his watch; Lucy was running two minutes and thirty seconds late. He was beginning to think that she stood him up when, "Ed!" he heard her call, as she walked to him.

He looked at her, she looked nice, she had on denim capris with three buttons on the ends of the legs. She had on a nice dark blue t-shirt with some sort of eagle on it and the word, "Valliant" sewn on in white material. Her red hair was wound back into a butterfly clip and loose curls spilled over it like a waterfall. She had on blue plastic flip-flops that looked two years old.

"Hey! Ready to go?" He took Lucy into the second building, he explained where he was taking her, "It's really cool, but Trumpkin didn't want it in the main building, it's a restaurant designed for teenagers—with food we _can _pronounce," he smiled at Lucy, "—and there's also a dance floor if you wanna do that, here we are."

The lobby of building two was a lot like the lobby of building one, what with the pillars, stone, and the rest of the splendor but instead of an aquarium for windows, there was an enormous waterfall in the center, spilling gallons and gallons into a pool where fish swam hurriedly. A crest of a girl with a quiver full of arrows at her side, her hand stretched out, presumably reaching out for a bow, sat at the top of the waterfall. "The Paravel family crest," Edmund explained, as he saw Lucy looking at it, "though they changed the girl several times, Mr. Paravel tried to make it look like each of his wives, but then changed it with each divorce. Now, it's supposed to look like his daughter, I guess it'd get expensive changing a crest that much."

Lucy squinted and could see Susan's likeness in the large crest, but she was a bit distracted by the loud roaring waterfall, falling white into the pool.

The restaurant was nice. It had florescent lights and reasonably loud music playing all over. In reality, it seemed more like a club than a restaurant. Still, they were managing to enjoy themselves. They talked about the resort, told jokes, talked about almost every topic known to man or monkey.

"You play the guitar?" Lucy had asked with intrigue, when Edmund mentioned he was learning to play the song when _"Next Contestant_" by Nickelback started playing.

"Only a little bit." Edmund said through mouthfuls of cheesy pizza. "I'm not that good."

"It's still cool that you can play at all." Lucy mused.

"I guess…. hey, how're you enjoying your pizza?"

* * *

"Can I walk you back?" was the question asked after the meal was done, and they were back in building one. Edmund was stiff with anticipation, the date had gone well in his eyes, but there wasn't telling what Lucy was thinking.

"Sure." She smiled, "You might have to meet my brother though."

They walked on in silence, but Edmund wanted to ask Lucy something. He had something on his mind all evening but couldn't figure out how to put it so it couldn't be mistaken for an insult.. What exactly made Lucy so different? "Hey, Lu?" He asked while punching her floor number in the big elevator.

"Mmm?"

"I was…. never mind." Edmund couldn't figure out how exactly to phrase it, they stepped out of the elevator. As they walked down the hallway it just kind of came out, right in front of her suite door, "When I asked you if you wanted to go to dinner…. why did you say yes?" He realized he didn't do the best job phrasing this question, but he felt the need to know, _what made Lucy different_? Was he beginning to feel guilty for his bet?

Lucy thought for a moment, Edmund could again swear that he felt the earth move, before she said, "Because," her cerulean eyes penetrating his russet ones, "I didn't want to spend the rest of my life wondering what would've happened if I took a chance on the busboy."

They stood in silence for maybe a minute, and then together they seemed to move towards each other. Slowly…slowly…it seemed to Edmund that it was almost certain, he just needed to close the gap…and then….

"WellgoodnightEdmund." Lucy said hurriedly before rushing into her suite. She latched the door and took a deep breath before pressing against it. She bit her lip as she sunk against the door, biting her lip.

_**A/N: So close, darn it. If you would be so kind as to review, I shall give you a cookie! **_

**_Who likes the random fluffy Peter/Susan bits? _**


	5. Arguement

**Chapter Five  
_Arguement_**

Susan came in about a half hour after Lucy had got back from her date with Edmund. Lucy had finished _Les Miserables_ and had moved on to _The Sword and The Stone_"So…how'd it go?" Susan asked expectantly.

Lucy set down _The Sword and The Stone _"What do you mean?" she was beginning to think that Edmund-related things were going to interfere with her reading schedule the entire vacation.

"What happened? Where'd you go? What'd you do?"

"We went to dinner…. and we talked?"

Susan popped some popcorn and they started doing the normal slumber party things as Susan interviewed Lucy about her date.

"Well…was there chemistry?" Susan asked, adding an intricate bubble-like pattern on Lucy's left index finger.

A person getting excited over Lucy's relationship was a completely new concept for her. Granted, she hadn't been in a relationship before, "We almost kissed." She offered, blushing a little. "You're good at this." She noticed the pattern on her hand.

Susan looked up and began shooting off a million questions, "Almost? What do you mean? Who made the first advance? Wait a minute… 'almost' means you didn't really kiss….who pulled away?"

"Which one do you want me to answer?" Lucy blew on her right hand.

"Well…all of them. Start with telling me who made the first advance, then who pulled away." She turned back to her work.

Lucy tried to remember who made the first advance, but she couldn't remember. It seemed as if they moved together. After a brief hesitation, she said, "I pulled away."

"So, you don't like him that much?"

"No." Lucy looked at the ceiling, unable to look anyone in the eye for whatever reason. "It's not that. I _really _like him. It's just that…." She sighed; his eyes came to mind, the color of chocolate, sweet and rich. "It's really complicated. I've only known him for three days… not to mention, the fact that I'll only be here for eleven more days…I don't think I could start a relationship in that time, let alone keep it."

Susan didn't get it. The way her brain was wired, you like a guy more than a friend, you kiss him, and see if there's sparks. If there aren't any, you go your separate ways. It was as simple as that to her, she just thought that Lucy was overcomplicating things. "Well…" she said slowly, "if you want a relationship with him at all, you may need to go a bit faster than normal. You might never see him again after this vacation."

The two girls sat in silence for a few minutes. Lucy was mulling over what Susan had said, also the reason she had gone out with Edmund in the first place, because she didn't want to spend her life wondering what would've happened if she never took a chance on the busboy. It sounded kind of clichéd when she thought it over, but it was the truth. She knew that much. "So," Lucy decided to change the subject, "what did you do with Peter tonight?"

Susan had a small smile on her face, obviously remembering secret glances, things said, things done, and all the other things that you remember when you're in love. "Watched a movie…this and that." She shrugged, "It was kind of a down day….you're done." She gave Lucy's left hand back to her.

"Sounds nice." Lucy smiled, blew on her left hand while picking _The Sword and the Stone _up with her right to put into her backpack, "What movie?"

Susan's face drew a blank, an extremely rare occurrence, "I don't really remember."

Lucy smiled and she thought about how nice it would be to be in love, she wondered if it could ever happen to her.

* * *

The moonlight sent a milky white light beam down to Lucy's bed. The clean soft sheets and silky comforter smelled fresh like the sea air. She moved her legs back and forth, and they felt cool against the mostly bare skin on her legs. When her legs moved to a new place than they were currently in, they broke the balustrade of warm and entered a chilling area of untouched blanket. She stroked the soft pillow with her index finger. She stared at the silver moon; all she could hear was her own measured pant and Susan snoring lightly on the other end of the room.

She thought about Edmund. About how her heart had gone into her ears when they were about to kiss. She wondered why she pulled away. She never thought she would even date someone she only knew for a few days, much less almost kiss him. Much less wish that she had kissed him.

She closed her eyes, welcoming the refreshing and comforting shadows, and rolled onto her back. Sleep took her over. She wasn't aware of it, but at exactly quarter to two she slurred his name. She slurred out "Edmund".

_**

* * *

**_

"All right, your change is $35.00. Have a nice day." Edmund could never believe how much money all the guests at the _Cair Paravel _had—as well as how much money they would spend on souvenirs. He wanted to know who in the world would pay forty dollars for a t-shirt. Well, he answered himself, rich people would. He knew he was fairly poor, but sometimes working at the resort made him feel downright broke. He examined his cuticles, waiting for the next customer to come in.

"Hey, Ed." He heard a familiar voice, snapping him out of his thoughts. "All right?"

"Lucy!" he realized that he seemed a bit too eager, so he ran his hand through his hair, "

Yeah. You?"

"Fine." She smiled, putting a throwaway camera and a pack of _Spearmint _gum on the counter, "Sorry about shutting the door in your face last night."

Edmund scanned the camera, "It's okay. I tend to get carried away."

Lucy bit her lip, "Well…. do you think that we could pick up where we left off when you get off work?"

Edmund was surprised; did she just say that she wanted him to kiss her now? After walking away? Or did she just mean that she wanted to go on another date? "Sure." He scanned the gum. "Want a bag for this?"

Lucy smiled; Edmund noticed how pretty she looked when she smiled, her dark blue eyes lit up, and her lips rounded up into a stunning grin. She took the camera and gum, "All right. So…. can you call me on my mobile when you're off work, so we can meet up?"

He agreed, before calling, "See ya, hot stuff," after her as she left.

* * *

"I can have friends, Peter!" Susan had her arms crossed and her lips were drawn into a frown.

"You really think all he's interested in is _friendship_?! I'm a guy, I know how guys think!"

Susan through her arms down, "What are you afraid of?!" she screeched, calming down she said, "I'm not going to do anything with Caspian. Peter, you've got to trust me. He's just a friend and that's how he'll stay."

Peter didn't believe it. He kept on expressing his feelings against Caspian, as Susan denied that she'd get into anything other than friendship with him. If she could have seen how sleazy Caspian looked to him, she wouldn't have been so open to his friendship. Still, if there was one fault in Susan Paravel, it was that she was a know-it-all and once she had an opinion on something (or someone) forget yours, hers _has _to be right. They argued on this subject for several more minutes, before Susan eventually spat, "Forget it!" as she walked out the door, "I'll be back later, Peter."

She walked down to the beach; the dry white sand burned the bottoms of her feet. She trudged around sunbathers, children chasing gulls, and people running down to the surf. She was upset and walked heavier and with less grace than she normally did.

"Susan?" she heard a familiar voice, and she turned to face the handsome tanned face of Caspian. "What's wrong?" he asked, concern written across his face.

Susan shrugged, and tried to say nonchalantly, "Peter and I got into an argument…we'll make up later…I'm sure of it." She sounded as if she was reassuring herself on the last part.

"It's not that it's really my business, but do you want to tell me what happened? Maybe I could tell you where Peter's coming from."

Susan knew where Peter was coming from, but she did want a chance to talk out her feelings to somebody, so she accepted Caspian's invitation.

They sat on a stack of boulders that the ocean must've carved to make them flat. They carefully sat down to not burn their backsides when they sat on the dull gray surface. Susan began, for lack of a better word, ranting. She didn't tell Caspian exactly why she and Peter were fighting (considering he _is_ the why) but she did explain her feelings. "It's as if he doesn't trust me on my own. It's not that he's controlling, but he doesn't want me to be around any other men; he has the world's biggest ego until you put me and another man my age in a scenario."

Caspian stared at Susan. The midday sunlight made her long brown hair shiny as it blew around in the slight ocean breeze. The more he listened to Susan, the more he was starting to feel friendly towards her. He was only half-listening to her ranting, and using the rest of his sensory skills to just stare at her.

Before they knew it, it was hours later, Susan had moved on from Peter and had begun talking about all the other things that had ever bothered her in her life, "…and then Dad didn't come to my twelfth birthday party. It wouldn't have been a problem if he didn't promise he'd be there…. but no, he decided to elope and forget about me."

Susan had to admit, it was nice to share these things with a friend. Peter didn't exactly jump at the chance to listen to her about her feelings—not that he plainly didn't listen, but to have tact, Susan didn't try to bring them up. "Thanks for listening, Caspian." Susan finally said once her voice got scratchy from talking, she bumped into Caspian with her shoulder in a friendly—but slightly flirtatious—gesture.

"You're welcome." He bumped into her shoulder and soon they started a game of it. Susan would bump into his shoulder, Caspian would to the same and then they got a little more forceful each time, seeing who would fall down first.

"Susan?" A voice called to her from the base of the rocks, behind Susan and Caspian. They turned around, both turning in to the gap that was between them: Peter stood there.

"Yeah?" she asked her boyfriend who had an inquisitive look on his face.

"Um…" Peter had originally come down to the beach to apologize, to say that he should've trusted her and that he was confident that she wouldn't do anything with Caspian. That was out, the burning feeling inside his chest made sure of that.

Susan raised an eyebrow, interrupting she guessed, "Did you want to apologize?"

"Mmmhmm." Peter murmured.

Susan started down from the stack of rocks; her light blue eyes shimmered in his, as she said slowly, "You trust me, right?"

"Mmmhmm." Peter murmured.

Susan accepted his murmurs as an apology. She curled her dainty lips into a smile; she lifted herself onto her toes and kissed Peter on the nose. She took Peter's arm as he escorted her off the beach. Susan twisted her torso around, to face Caspian, as she was walking away she called, "See you! Thanks for listening!" Before giving him a friendly wink and turning back to her boyfriend.

Caspian watched her go.

_**A/N: Hoppy Easter! ^_^ **_


	6. Dear Little Friend

_**I don't own Chronicles of Narnia. **_

_**Chapter Six **_

_**Dear Little Friend **_

Dwayne Trumpkin was beginning to wonder who he killed in a past life. What ever happened to letting management manage stuff in solitude? This girl had randomly knocked on the wooden door to his office; he had seen her before. Now, what was her name? Lulu? Laura? No, he knew that wasn't right. He knew it started with an L. Eh, he'd remember it if he ever had to use it.

"Hullo, Mr. Trumpkin." She said, poking her head through the doorframe, "May I come in?"

Trumpkin shrugged, assuming this girl had some sort of valid reason for entering his dim office. The girl smiled; entering the sun deprived, air conditioned, but still mildly humid room. She took a seat in one of the beautifully crafted chairs opposite his desk.

"All right?" she asked, looking at the speckled light let in from the shades. She noticed the specks of dust floating across the air in his office.

Mr. Trumpkin's eyes drew into thin slits, although he still had that grumpy and irritable look on his face. "What do you want?" 'What do you want?' was his was his way of saying, 'How may I help you to make your stay more comfortable?' Naturally, this was something he never would say—or mean—but was required to say it. He was the manager, darn it. Not a bellhop. It was his job to make sure the hotel ran smoothly, not take care of everybody's little conceded complaints on their skin cancer-inducing vacations.

The girl shrugged, good naturedly, "I thought I'd just stop by."

Trumpkin arched his eyebrows, confused, "So then, you don't have a good reason to be here?"

She gave a little amused chortle from the back of her throat, "I guess not." She had her lips pulled back into a small half-smile, "I thought it'd be nice to just stop by. I suppose you don't get too many visitors that come without complaints."

"No, I don't. That's half the reason I chose this job." Trumpkin said, dryly. He riffled through some papers, hoping she'd notice he didn't want company and go away.

"That's a shame." The girl said, "You must get lonely."

"Not really." Trumpkin grumbled, "Listen, Lucy," that's right, her name was Lucy. "I really have a lot of work to do. So…why don't you go and…. swim with the dolphins or something?"

Lucy shifted uncomfortably in her chair, "Well…. I don't think I could do that, exactly..."

They sat for several minutes in silence; Trumpkin looked through some contracts and bobbed a silver pen in quick chicken scratch moves on white paper. Lucy sat twiddling her thumbs; she soon began humming her favorite song.

"Do you mind?" Trumpkin asked, irritably, turning over a contract and placing his scratchy signature on a dotted line.

"Sorry." Lucy apologized, she stared at the dim light let in through the shades, "Erm…so, how do you become a manager of a hotel?"

Trumpkin sighed; it was going to be a long morning.

* * *

Susan sat on the base of her bed; she was wearing a pastel green baby tee and a denim shorts that reached a few inches above her fingertips if she stood up straight. She was playing with her hair, trying to figure out how to do it that day. Wearing it down was too hot for the weather, and a ponytail was too simple.

She ended up deciding on just wearing it down, but using a green headband to keep it off of her neck.

"Knock, knock." Peter called, through the door, letting himself in. He had two Styrofoam cups of coffee in each hand. "Double latte, extra foam for a Ms. Susan Paravel." As he placed the cup in her left hand he kissed her cheek before she turned her face towards his before they got into a more passionate gesture. "You're welcome." He said, pretending to be dazed, after they broke apart, "I'm going be the delivery boy more often,"

Susan grinned, leaning in to breathe his air, when her mobile went off.

"Who's that?" Peter asked, straightening up.

"Caspian." Susan muttered, staring at the large screen of her silver mobile, she typed some numbers in on it; a small smile appeared on her lips for a fraction of a second.

Peter looked over Susan's shoulder and sent a quick glance to the screen, on it had the message, "Lol. No. Peter" Why was she talking about him, what was going on between her and Caspian? Typically, Peter wasn't the jealous type, he trusted Susan most of the time, and he didn't monopolize all of her time, either. Back at school, Susan was extremely popular with the boys, but he trusted her. Mostly.

* * *

Edmund was on his way back from all the 'glamour and glitz' of being a busboy when the special of the day was super stuffed hotcakes. Who knew rich people could eat that much, and that quickly? He remembered a rather large bear-like man who had insisted on eating four helpings of that stuff before calling it quits and sucking on his knuckles. Edmund shuddered at the memory. He was simply wandering aimlessly, trying to find something to do until his next shift started. He considered calling Lucy and meeting up with her, but his mobile was almost out of battery (he had forgot to charge it the previous night) and he didn't want to waste it on a call just do find out that she was on a boat somewhere in the middle of the ocean. He'd try to find her later, he decided.

Continuing his aimless walk, he ended up in the lobby of the hotel standing in an area with several couches in front of the large aquarium. He had taken a seat and began dozing off, when someone came up behind him, kicking up over the couch. "Hi." She called.

"Hey, Lucy." He said, grinning at the redheaded girl. "How goes it?"

Lucy smiled back, he water again reflecting off of her face, he always loved the way Lucy looked when water and light reflected on her face, the bluish glow sending shadows and highlights across the curves of her face. "Fine. I just got out from a visit with Mr. Trumpkin."

Edmund raised an eyebrow, he couldn't have heard that correctly. "Sorry. I thought you said you were visiting with Mr. Trumpkin?"

Lucy let out a small laugh, "I was. He takes awhile to get into pleasant conversation, but it's possible."

"Lucy Pevensie, you never cease to amaze me." Edmund shook his head, how many girls would go looking for conversation and meeting the most anti-social person in the proximity of the resort? "You actually got Dwayne Lucas Frances Trumpkin to have a pleasant conversation."

"Didn't he let you and Caspian," Lucy didn't know Caspian personally, but she knew that he was Edmund's roommate, and she had overheard Susan say to Peter, in that low argumentative voice that she wasn't going to do anything with Caspian, "stay in his old condominium?"

"Well, yeah," Edmund scratched the base of his neck with his fingertips, "I don't really know why he let Caspian move in, but as far as I go, it's because of Digory." Lucy could tell Edmund had a hard time talking about his unfortunate past, she didn't blame him, and it always seemed awkward when he brought up Digory Kirke. "Trumpkin didn't much like me before Digory…. passed. Now, he's civil enough, though. I still wouldn't go to say friendly or even pleasant."

Lucy waved it over, "Well…. he's not all that 'friendly,' to be completely honest. Still, he is a nice person to talk to."

Edmund shrugged it off, "Whatever." He said, stretching out his arms and legs, before folding his fingers and placing them behind his head in a very relaxed position.

Lucy laughed; she was about to open her mouth to say something, before someone sat down on the other side of the couch beside her, she turned to see who it was. "Hi," Lucy said, cheerfully, there was something about Lucy that seemed cheerful most of the time, not in an obnoxious way, but in a very real sort of, things aren't going bad, so they must be going great, sort of way.

"Who's this?" Her brother asked almost immediately, not in a rude or demanding voice, just an 'I know who this is, I want to meet the guy who's been taking my baby sister out a lot," voice.

"This is Edmund Just." Lucy presented Edmund not too much unlike the way Susan had been presenting Peter when they first came, just not as blunt or strongly. Instead of love and pride in Lucy's eyes there was something as to say that she really, really liked him. Along the line from like-like to that fake teen-love that everyone gets all caught up in and makes them all light-headed and stupid. "You know, the boy I've been talking about? Ed? This is my brother, Peter."

Edmund stuck out his hand for Peter to shake, "Nice to meet 'cha."

Peter took his hand, "Yeah…you too." He quickly evaluated Edmund on the lethal first-glance. The infamous 'Look' that fathers give their daughter's date that says, 'I'm going to find something wrong with you no matter what you say.' After giving him the Look he said, "So, where'd you and Lucy go on your date last night?"

"We went to dinner." Edmund replied nonchalantly, fixing his posture. Being an ex-street kid, he knew how people worked. He couldn't tell you how many times he had to talk himself out of sticky situations.

"That all?" Peter asked, knowing he couldn't really forbid Lucy from seeing Edmund, but if he didn't get the Peter Seal of Approval…let's just say that he could make it really _hard _for Lucy to keep seeing Edmund.

"Yeah." Edmund said, making sure to make eye contact, "I took her to the teen restaurant in building two. You familiar with it?"

"No. It's appropriate right?" Peter waited for the answer, reading into all of Edmund's expressions.

Just as Peter was reading into Edmund's expressions, Edmund was keeping them calm and cool, "Of course. I wouldn't take Lucy to any place inappropriate."

"What would you consider inappropriate?" Peter arched his eyebrow.

"Erm, gentlemen?" Lucy asked, her neck was getting sore from looking side to side, as to look at each of the boys as they spoke, "I'd prefer it if you didn't talk about me as if I'm not here. I can hear everything you're saying, whether or not I'm technically in the conversation." The last sentence wasn't said coldly, or even curtly, it was merely a reminder to the boys as they conversed in things that did concern her that she was in the room.

They both apologized and the three of them began a somewhat animated conversation about food, restaurants, and the like. This went on until Lucy excused herself to go to the girl's room, once she was out of earshot, Peter said briskly, "I'm not saying that you're a bad guy, I don't even know you that well, but I'm saying right now, I'm Lucy's big brother and if I ever hear that you hurt her in any way…. let's just say it won't be pretty. Clear?"

Edmund was trying not to cock an eyebrow; Peter seemed to him like the kind of guy that could be tough when required, though it seemed most likely that it would come with kicking a football up and down a pitch, but wouldn't go hurting people for revenge. Of course, this was a scenario involving protecting his little sister, so who really knew? So, all Edmund did was nod and say, "Crystal."

A thought came to Edmund's mind, if Peter was going to get that protective over his little sister, would he be that protective over his girlfriend? He sort of hoped that it was an empty threat, as great as it would be to see Caspian get some bruises over his muscle, he didn't want Caspian to get hurt badly. Or vice versa. What would _Lucy _think if her brother got beat up by his roommate? Would she automatically think that he had something to do with it, too (though technically he did)? Why was Edmund worried so much? Was he getting in way over his head?

The answer was yes.


	7. A Minute Past Midinight

I don't own Narnia

_**Chapter 7**_

_**A Minute Past Midnight**_

Caspian was finding that he was enjoying Susan's company the more he got to know her. Naturally, he still found her physically attractive, and he was still bound by his bet with his roommate, but he found her company fun and refreshing after spending all his time at the pool being given a million orders by Miraz. They were definitely friends, to say the least.

He didn't really want to keep his bet with Edmund but he could see the humiliation in the future if he went back on it now; "Looks like the 'Great' Caspian finally failed to get a girl, eh? Pay up, dude." In short, he was beyond the point of no return.

He found that Peter didn't really intimidate him at all. At first it was a bit unnerving, knowing that she had a boyfriend and all that. Then a realization hit him; Peter didn't seem to listen to Susan all that well.

From what Susan had told him, Peter seemed like the kind of person who was nice enough, and seemed to care inside of himself somewhere, but wouldn't show it through listening. That gave Caspian an advantage to winning Susan over. Girls like being listened to, that's the way life has always been and always will be. Being listened to makes them feel important or something.

So, Caspian made sure to have enough time to talk with and listen to Susan whenever possible (the good thing to trying to get the heiress to the hotel you work for is that your boss can't fire you using your visiting as an excuse to fire you.)

"Hey, Su, what's up?" He asked, leaning on a shining surface circular table under the cabana. She had on a small dress over her swimsuit and large black sunglasses were pushed up into her brunette hair that was in loose curls. All the time she was spending in the sun was starting to reflect on her appearance, her face and arms tanning lightly, it seemed to glow off of her skin. Her shoulders were beginning to pink through sunburn, not red sunburn; more like a light sun kiss even.

She smiled, "Not much, Cas. You?"

"Working. " he smiled back, "You want any drinks or something?"

He was asking Susan but Peter answered for her, "No thanks." Despite the above ninety-degree weather, Peter's voice was cold.

"All right. None for the _gentleman_," he had put some emphasis on the word, 'gentleman' as to point out some brief sarcasm, "What about Ms. Paravel?"

"Nothing right now, thanks anyways."

Caspian nodded before turning back to his work and serving some girls wearing far too revealing bathing suits when he overheard a bit of their conversation, "Susan, I'm telling you, he's coming on to you." Peter was mad, that was fairly obvious.

"He's my friend, Peter. We've been over this a thousand times. Could you _please_ just let it go?"

"I'd be able to if he wasn't there every four minutes."

"Now you're just being dramatic." She crossed her arms at her chest, "Haven't we been over this already?"

Peter mumbled something incoherently before pulling out his blue mobile and listening to something, possibly on his voicemail.

Susan slouched in her seat, she had a look across her face the read somewhere between anger and something else like confusion and sadness.

Caspian pulled out his own old and cheap mobile and quickly typed in on the small numbers, '_u all rite?' _

He had just pressed the worn-out 'Talk' button when a stony voice said, "Caspian slacking off at his job. Why am I not surprised?"

"Sorry, Uncle Miraz." Caspian sluggishly mumbled, putting his mobile back into the seat pockets of his shorts.

"We'll see how sorry you are when you're cleaning the pool alone for the next three weeks." Miraz spat, cruelly, not so secretly enjoying finding a valid way to punish his nephew.

"Yes, sir." Caspian mumbled, picking up a pool net.

* * *

Peter and Susan were starting to drift apart; that much became apparent; Susan had taken to sleeping in her respective bed more and more. Their kisses goodnight became more of a docile peck on the mouth than a gesture to keep them satisfied until the morning light came and they would see each other again. Peter was getting worried, he knew that was apart of the problem, but he couldn't help it. He was in love with Susan, and yet, she had never said it to him. It was starting to seem more and more important the longer they stayed at the Cair Paravel. Peter was beginning to wish that this vacation were over.

* * *

Lucy was sleeping in her own bed, the silken sheets wrapped around her legs like a cocoon, her arms flung out, one over her head, the other dangling off of the side of the large bed. Her mouth hung open and her regular breathing moved her chest up and down.

The fluorescent red numbers on the black digital alarm clock blinked 12:01 (typically it would've been midnight, but let's break moulds, shall we?) and a chorus of 'Kidnapper' by Tumnus and the Fauns, broke up Lucy's sleep. She rolled on to her stomach, thinking it would go away. Then she realized that that was her ring tone. Quickly grabbing her mobile, she pressed the green 'Talk' button, waited a moment before whispering "Hullo?" to make sure it didn't wake Susan up, who was still quietly snoring in her bed.

"Lu, I didn't wake you up, did I?" Edmund's hushed voice came from the other end.

"It's a minute past midnight." Lucy checked the time on the alarm clock, "Yes, you woke me up." She slowly stepped out of the bedroom and into the living area.

"Well…are you doing anything?" Edmund seemed fully awake.

"Other than sleeping? I'm free." Lucy was waking up more, but was still very tired.

"Great," Edmund said, "Do me a favor will you? Meet me outside your building. Have your swimsuit on under you clothes."

"Why?" Lucy asked, resting a tired head on the cool, sweet smelling leather of the couch.

"It's a surprise." Edmund said, she could tell that he was smiling, "You'll like it, I promise."

"Can't it wait for the morning?" Lucy practically begged, wanting to be back in bed.

"Nope. This is a once-in-a-hundred years thing. So, unless you want to wait a century to see the coolest thing ever…"

"All right." Lucy gave in, "I don't want to miss 'the coolest thing ever'" She repeated him good naturedly, "See you in…five minutes."

She hung up her mobile, changed, then left a message on the door in case whatever Edmund and she were going to do took all night, before heading out into the cool summer air. She was surprised how cool it had gotten, it wasn't to the point of being cold but Lucy had just presumed that it was always above eighty degrees on the islands.

The moon shone brightly on the water of the ocean across the way as Lucy inhaled; practically smelling the salt off the ocean.

She saw a thin headlight come up from the concrete walk, coming into the light from it's own headlight and from the overhead light emanating from the building itself, glowing. Attached to the headlight was a dark blue moped and on it was Edmund. He straddled off of the vehicle and came to Lucy, "You came." He said smiling.

"Of course. I promised I would didn't I?" Lucy lowered an eyebrow, confused.

Edmund still wasn't used to girls being as honest as Lucy was, and it always was a pleasant surprise. He shrugged, "Yeah. Well…let's go, shall we?" he offered Lucy a helmet and gestured to his navy moped.

"Are we leaving the resort?" Lucy asked, straddling the back of the seat, right behind Edmund, her legs were on either side of his hips and she had her arms around his waist for support.

"Nah." He said, grinning. "It's just on the other end. Ready?"

They took off, the world spinning behind them, streetlights rushing by, the waves crashing on the beach seemed so slow, Lucy tucked her head into Edmund's shoulder, smiling.

Soon, the streetlights disappeared and he drove her into the night, "Here's where we get off," He helped her off before pulling a small flashlight out from his pocket, "Watch your step." He led her for two minutes or so through uneven ground, sand and loose rocks found their way into Lucy's flip flops. Edmund put his hands on her shoulders; stopping her abruptly, "Stay here. I'll be right back." As he took off to the left, taking the flashlight with him.

Lucy was left facing the bright half-moon, she watched the stars twinkle dully, trying to find constellations.

Suddenly, she heard the distinct sound of lights clicking on, followed immediately by the deep roaring sound of water splashing into itself as she slowly turned on her heels to have her jaw drop with a moist plop; she was standing at the edge of an enormous pool, it's sides curved and looked like it was supposed to be in the shape of something (this presumption would be correct, Mr. Beaverton had worked very hard on the designs for this pool, and was quite disappointed at the shape which curved too much from the original fish it was supposed to look like and actually turned out more like an hourglass)

In the center and at the back of which had an enormous tower resembling an Aztec temple, with stairs up the triangular shape up on the left side, two water slides ran next to each other leaving into a spiraling and invitingly bubbly body of water. At the top of the "temple" was the Paravel family crest, with it's archer that resembled Susan.

On the left hand side, where the tail was supposed to be, was a waterfall carved out of brown stone that reached about five feet above water level, water fell into the rest of the pool—in the breaks of the whitecaps Lucy could see there was a man-made cave behind the water. On the top of the waterfall, Edmund stood, flexed his arms out to the black sky, before diving into the water, Lucy's eyes followed his form under the water, where he swam to her feet, "Worth coming out at midnight?" He asked, treading the deep water.

"Yeah!" Lucy said, out of breath, "What is this, anyway?"

Edmund stopped treading the water and supported himself above the water by floating on his back, Lucy noticed that he wasn't wearing a shirt and blushed, "It's the new pool they decided to put in. They finished construction early but can't 'unveil' it until the release date." He shrugged, falling a little into the water.

"You mean we're not supposed to be here?" Lucy had never really broken rules before, and the possibility of doing so was enough to make her get more than a little jumpy.

"Exactly. Why do you think I'm doing this in the dead of night?" He paused, "Wanna come in?"

"I-I…I don't wanna get in trouble." Lucy mumbled, staring at her feet.

"C'mon!" Edmund was almost whining, "Take a chance, will you? Most girls flash people for margaritas on their spring breaks. Swimming with me seems a bit tame compared to that, doesn't it?"

Lucy smiled and shook her head, "When you put it in that light…but…um…I still can't." She bit her lip and wiggled her toes.

"And why is that?" Edmund asked, curiously, treading a bit closer.

"All right, if you insist, I can't swim." Lucy mumbled, she didn't like to admit it; normal people could swim, it was just something that people did. Lucy never bothered to learn; she didn't see the point at first. Now it seemed like a basic living skill.

"Seriously?" Edmund raised an eyebrow, somewhere between amusement and disbelief.

"Yes. But this is really beautiful. I enjoyed seeing it."

"Wait," Edmund said, swimming out a little further, "you're out here in the middle of the night, you came this far, why not just get a little wet? Jump." He said, touching his feet to the smooth bottom of the pool (now in one of the shallower parts,) "Jump, and I'll catch you."

"Promise?" Lucy said, she had to admit that the water seemed fun, and after all, she _had _come that far. Edmund nodded and promised, so then Lucy unbuttoned her white capris, not without a little blushing as she pulled them down her legs; she had never, even if she had a swimsuit under her clothes like at that moment, even begun to take off any article of clothing in front of any member of the opposite sex. She quickly pulled her shirt off, goosebumps appeared on her bare arms and stomach, she pulled her hair down from the ponytail she had had it in, "One…two…are you sure you'll catch me?" she said reluctantly.

Edmund sighed, "Yes. I'm positive." He just wished she'd jump in; it was only five feet two inches deep; exactly at Lucy's height. He had never realized how short Lucy was, five two. Yikes, she's little, he thought.

"Look alive!" she called, releasing herself into the water, she went under for a few seconds, before strong arms caught her and pulled her back up from the shining water to the surface, in Edmund's arms they were moving to the more so shallow end of the pool, so they could both comfortably stand, no water over either of their heads.

"See?" Edmund said, smiling, holding her on his hip with one hand, the other took to her cheek, "I told you I wouldn't drop you." His own earth-colored eyes staring deeply into her cerulean ones, again the water and light reflecting in her eyes.

Lucy smiled, this time she had no intention of pulling away, she put one hand on his shoulder, "Did'ya now?" she said before pulling him in toward her.

Their lips collided together, both of their eyes at first grew to the size of supper plates at the surprise before settling, closing and going along for the ride, the kiss was fairly quick and clean cut; but the fireworks going off in their stomachs provided excuse to pull together again later on, now sitting on the steps in the pool, Lucy against the smooth edge, holding Edmund's shoulder, Edmund's hands ringing through Lucy's wet hair, the second kiss was deeper and more serious (and more open-mouthed, for that matter,) After breaking away, they proceeded to playfully splash around in the blue water.

"It's almost three." Edmund said, checking his mobile when they had gotten tired of splashing around in the water. "Wanna head back to the hotel?"

"You kidding me?" Lucy said, pulling her capris back on, shooting Edmund a look as if to say, _'You get me up at midnight only to spend two hours with me?'_ all of this was said jokingly, "Don't tell me you're that low on stamina."

"Not at all." He said, kissing her cheek before flipping a large switch by the rock waterfall, turning all the lights off, taking her hand in one and the flashlight in the other, "What do _you _want to do?"

"I dunno." Lucy admitted, "Say, what'd you do on your evenings?"

"Sleep." Edmund said with playful cheek, "Oh, you mean when I decide to have fun at night?" There was an answer, but the thing is that it wouldn't impress Lucy at all. It wasn't his fault, well, technically it was but what would you do if you were living alone all the time without any supervision? "This." He lied.

"All right," Lucy looked around at the darkness, squeezing Edmund's hand in her own, "I guess we could go back to the hotel." She said, grabbing both of his hands before kissing him softly on the lips in a rather suggestive way.

* * *

They wound up in Lucy's room, sitting on the couch, playing card games, talking, thumb wrestling, listening to Lucy's iPod for a long time, until they fell asleep, Lucy leaning against Edmund's shoulder sleeping peacefully, Edmund had his hand on her stomach and waist.

They slept for several hours until the sun peaked up over the horizon, and they would've gone on sleeping unless….

"WHAT THE--?!?!" None other than Peter Pevensie had walked in to the room with Susan to get her sunscreen that she had forgotten earlier that day.

Edmund and Lucy had shot awake, a little baffled. They exchanged looks, they were unaware that they had fallen asleep.

"You didn't have to wake them up, Peter." Susan said, grabbing the small tube, "They were

out really late last night."

"What?" Peter turned to his girlfriend incredulously.

"Lu gave me a note at midnight telling me not to worry if she wasn't in the room when I woke up, that she was out with Edmund." When Susan had come out for breakfast she noticed the duo slumbering on the couch, and thought it cute. Obviously her boyfriend didn't have the same views on it that she did.

Peter's eyes flashed from his girlfriend, to his little sister, to Edmund, before he mumbled, "No one tells me anything anymore."

_**A/N: Well…not my best chapter, not my worst, I think. What about you? **_

**_This is also my longest chapter ever! _**


	8. Falling Apart

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* * *

_**

A/N:! Please remember that this is rated T, this chapter is probably the most PG-13 one in all of them, this chapter contains alcohol and mild crude innuendo.

**Chapter 8**

**Falling Apart**

They were at it again; Susan and Peter were fighting. Again, the short time between fights was a record for them.

"Peter! I can't believe you! You _still _must go on about that?" She was beginning to feel that her boyfriend was very insecure with himself. "Can't you figure out that I only want to be with you?"

"Never mind." Peter tried to wave it off, "It's not like it matters." He said this a little coldly, arms crossed.

Susan sighed, "Want your shirt back?" she pulled off his shirt, and threw it at him rather harshly before fixing her bra strap. "Where's my shirt?"

"You're gonna leave?" Peter asked, throwing her shirt over to her, a bit sad. True, they haven't really been getting along the best in the last four minutes, but he sort of wanted to talk it out. He never really was one to "hit it and quit it" the vulgar expression lingered in Peter's mind for some time.

Here Susan tightened her lips and looked around the room, "I don't see what we have left to talk about."

"I'm sorry." Peter's blue eyes were searching hers, completely beseeching, "But I can't deal with seeing him flirt with you so much. It's too much to deal with." He put his hands on her bare shoulders, "Susan, I love you. I really mean it, I mean it every time I say it, but I need to know if you feel the same way."

"Peter I—"

"Just tell me!" he calmed down a little bit, "Do you love me?"

Susan looked around a little awkwardly, "I don't want to toss words around. I want to stay with you—you're the only person I want to be with, you have to know that. It's just…" she looked at her feet before looking back into her boyfriend's eyes, "I—I…. I've got to go." She said, before grabbing her own shirt off of the floor,putting it on as she stepped out of the door.

Peter sat down on his bed and ran his fingers through his hair, what did he just do?

* * *

Lucy felt like she had entered her own romance novel, and yet, she knew it couldn't last forever. Days six, seven, and eight had past by so quickly; day fourteen seemed there, watching, cackling, waiting for the spring break to be over so she could resume her normal, boring life.

"Edmund?" she asked one day, her left leg was up on a moth-eaten arm of the old couch in Edmund's apartment, her right foot was placed on the dusty carpet and she was playing cat's cradle with some frizzy blue string.

Edmund had his guitar to his chest; he had just finished playing her a song that he had written. "Yeah?" he asked back, scribbling some notes on his sheet music with a stubby pencil.

"Well…I was wondering…what's going to happen…when I leave?" She blushed, setting the cat's cradle aside.

"Sorry?" Edmund looked up from his music, one eyebrow raised up from the other.

Lucy bit her lip, "Well, I mean, are we just going to lose all contact with each other? Or are we going to email, or text or something?"

"Well," Edmund took a seat next to Lucy, who had straightened up to make room for her beau, "I was hoping that we could keep in touch. But, we still have a week left, Lu—"

"Four days." Lucy reminded him, sadly, stroking the moth-eaten fabric with her index finger.

Edmund wrapped his arm around her waist, "Fine then, four days," when he repeated her, he breathed into her hair in a soft whisper that sent pleasant shivers down her spine, "maybe we should just make the best of it?" then his lips curled up into a impish smile, "Got any ideas?"

Lucy nodded, running a hand along the side of his face, she was playing coy, but Edmund knew she'd soon get over that, as he pulled on her leg, breaking her balance. She sunk into the old furniture, Edmund's weight over hers, as they closed the gap between them by interlocking lips.

Edmund found that he was right, as far as Lucy would stop playing coy, when he felt her tongue glide into his mouth. He returned the favor, and they continued "making the best of it"

Suddenly, Edmund's mobile went off; with one hand (the other arm was around Lucy's waist) he flipped it open and pressed the speaker button. "Yeah?" he called to the phone, breaking his lips from Lucy's. "I'm a little busy right now."

A snobbish voice Lucy had never heard before (not like that mattered, considering she was still trying to get Edmund's mouth back to her own) said, "Edmund…what's going…never mind. I don't even want to know."

"Hey Eustace." Edmund said, annoyed, before turning his attention back to the girl running her bottom lip across his jaw line, "Lucy! Knock it off!" Whereas he was really thinking, _Damn, she's good at this! _

Lucy smiled and sat up straighter on the couch. She quickly racked her brain from the way that Susan acted around Peter and tried to think of what she would do in that situation, "Oh, you know you like it." She joked.

The voice from the other end of the line—Eustace--said, "Whoa. Keep your pants on, guys. I'm just wondering if Ed's going to actually show up tonight? He's missed the last few days." Edmund's brown eyes grew bigger.

"You're killing me, man." Edmund interrupted, "and I kind of want to spend my time with Lucy."

"Why don't you bring her?"

Lucy interrupted, "That might be fun…whatever it is."

"No, it wouldn't. Believe me, it's not really your scene."

Eustace's voice said from the other end, "Well, are you guys coming or not? Ed, it's your turn to bring--"

Edmund blurted, "No. We're not coming." Lucy lowered her eyebrow at his franticness,

Eustace stuffily hung up after saying a curt good-bye, leaving Edmund and Lucy sitting on the couch together, silence hung awkwardly over the living area. "Ed?" Lucy asked, quietly, "What was it your turn to bring?"

The silence from Edmund made Lucy begin to suspect the worst. "Ed…you're not…on…drugs," the word was like poison on her lips, "are you?"

"No…well…not really." He looked her in the eyes, showing her that he was telling the truth, and that it was hard for him to do so, "Basically, it's alcopops." Lucy's expression showed that she obviously didn't know what alcopops were, "A combination of alcohol and soda? Well…some guys and I experimented and came up with an unbelievably sweet alcopop. A mixture of flavoring, liquor, vodka, and Mountain Dew. We call it Turkish Delight, 'cause it's so sweet."

Lucy was so dumbstruck, all she could say was, "That's illegal."

"That's why I kept it from you." Edmund said sadly.

"Are you addicted?"

Edmund closed his eyes, "I was." He drew his lips into a thin line, "When I was twelve."

Lucy felt her eyes begin to burn, she couldn't imagine a kid, only a year younger than she was, addicted to alcohol. Especially Edmund, who she had come to care about so much.

"I don't keep it at home anymore, and only meet up with the guys every once in awhile. I'm fine as long as I pace myself. It's the same situation for Eustace—the guy on the phone, my ass-of a cousin." A few tears escaped from Lucy's eyes, and Edmund put his arm around her shoulders, "Don't cry!" he didn't even know why she was crying. "I'm trying to stop all together…but it's hard cold turkey."

She used her hand to wipe a tear from her cheek, "It's okay, Ed. Just…no more secrets, okay?" her deep blue eyes penetrated his.

"Okay." Again, another lie. How many would he have to spin? He felt a soft hand grab his, interlocking their fingers.

* * *

Susan stumbled as she walked out of Peter's room, what just happened in there? She knew that she felt very strongly for Peter, but she didn't know if what she felt was love, she didn't want to chance lying about that.

She stumbled on as a thought came to her head, _who's to say that Peter even really loves me? He says it, but how do I know that he means it? He might think he does, but how can he know? Or maybe he even just says that to earn points or to get what he wants—heaven knows I give it to him…_

These thoughts were all wrong, deep inside of her she knew that, but her mind was swimming with that possibilities.

That is, until she walked into someone who harshly grabbed her wrists. Looking at the man, he was tall with dark skin, and a lopsided turban. He was breathing loudly and smelled like alcohol. She yelped—she wasn't particularly strong at the moment, all she could do was try and pull away with all of her might.

"Yourz…beezzed ter bee kharfulz." He slurred, though he was drunk he still had a firm hand on Susan's wrist and she couldn't get away, though she tried, "Ah purrrdy gurrl," he hiccupped, "khan steep enteh trrubble."

Susan had been pulling throughout the whole thing, for some reason no one seemed to neither care nor notice that she was near assault.

"HEY!" A loud voice rang through the air; Susan took a smile of relief when Caspian ran up to them and half-yelled, half-said, "What the hell is going on here?!"

"Nuuuthun thhhaaat sunserns yew." The drunken man said.

"I think it does." Caspian said, coolly, "Considering that's Susan Paravel. You could get in a world of trouble, Rabadash." When that didn't convince Rabadash, Caspian said, his voice ice, "You don't swing that way, anyway. Now get out of here before I call the police."

"Yer ain't mai bozz."

In the next flash, it took Susan a moment to realize what happened. Her wrist was free, but Caspian had red blood falling from his nose like a waterfall, and Rabadash had fainted after a blow to the stomach.

"Oh, god." Susan said, holding Caspian's arms, but standing away from the blood, "Can we get some tissues over here?" When people immediately came with tissues, it made the young heiress roll her eyes at people's priorities. When someone's near assault from a drunken man, no one helps, when someone's got a nosebleed; the paramedics come running.

They walked to the large stack of smooth and flat rocks, where they had shared conversation before, and sat, "How's the nosebleed?" Susan timidly asked.

"Gone." Caspian removed the bloody tissue, "I never thought I'd ask this, but do you have a moist towelette? I need to take care of some of this dried blood."

Susan shook her head, "Sorry…but…come here." She lifted a Kleenex from her pocket, and handed it to him, "Use that." She hugged her knees to her chest, and feeling the salty ocean breeze against her cheeks as her tongue caught salty tears that had flowed into her mouth.

"What's the matter?"

"I just…I feel so…" she was unable to find words to describe it and settled with a giant sigh.

"Wanna talk about it?" Caspian wrapped a consoling arm around her shoulders.

"You've got to be tired of me talking about my stupid problems all the time." She laughed a little in her throat, "You've got to think I'm worse than Paris Hilton."

Caspian shook his head, "Definitely not worse than Paris." He grinned, "Besides, if something really bothers you, it's not stupid to you, it's got to help to talk it out."

"All right," Susan knew her friend was right, "Peter's upset at me again." She shook her head in short movements, "This time because I can't say that I love him." She wasn't crying at that point, but she was choking the words up, "He doesn't get it."

Caspian was a little confused, he sheepishly said, "I can't say that I do either. Could you explain?"

Susan nodded, "I've sat through seven weddings for my father. _Seven_. None of which were my mother! I don't even know who my mother was! She just left me at Dad—my _father's. _Heaven knows; I barely knew him. I was left with whatever nanny he left me that week—very few of them spoke English. My father was out wooing whatever stripper caught his fancy that week—every single one he said it to! 'I love you', '_Je vous aime_', '_Ich liebe Sie_'" she spat out every word like it was venomous. "Every one believed it. I sat through each one, each one of my new 'mommies' going on and on about how they loved each other and how they were devoted to each other! Father's last marriage lasted six months. He's working on the next one. An eighteen-year-old girl. God! She's only three years older than I am! My father's sick, but I'm stuck with him, I don't want his life! I don't want to toss something like that around."

"I can see why you'd have a hard time saying that after all that."

Susan leaned in on his arm, "You're right, I thought I was going crazy. It's nice to—"

Susan would feel guilty about this later, but the next thing she knew, she was kissing Caspian. It's hard to say who kissed whom, but the fact that they had done it. The thing that would make Susan the guiltiest of all was the fact that she found it to be enjoyable.

She wasn't normally like that. In fact, she barely looked at other guys normally when she had a boyfriend. Normally, she was faithful.

Forgive her for being a bit dazed at first, but once her mind had stopped wheeling from, _it's nice to tell someone about this… _to _what's going on… _to, _oh, I'm kissing Caspian…that feels nice…wait a minute…I'M KISSING CASPIAN! Oh, god! What about Peter? Oh, god. Oh, god…wait, this feels nice…snap out of it, Susan! _She broke away, embarrassed and disappointed in herself, "I-I'm so sorry…I've gotta go!

And, next thing Susan Paravel knew, she was running through the ivory hallways of the resort, trying to run away from everything; the whole world was turning on it's end, and, she couldn't deal with that.

**A/N- I'm not all that happy with this chapter. Still, I've revised this seven times and can't find a better way to word things...I need a beta...**


	9. Ketchup, Salt, and Tears

**__**

Ketchup, Salt, and Tears

Peter had just been napping in his own room, when his phone had set off, not particularly in the mood to talk to anyone at that moment; he threw a soft, white pillow at the phone that continued to blare through the large room.

Giving up, he trudged toward the small object, shooting a look at the screen; he saw that it was Lucy calling him. The picture that would appear on the screen whenever she called was one of them together on a vacation a year or so past. They had sunburn on their cheeks and noses, as they smiled for Peter's phone so it could send their parents the picture.

Pressing the green "Talk" button, Peter put the phone up to his ear and said, "Yeah?"

He heard sniffing into the phone, "Peter?" Lucy's voice was strained inside the phone.

"Have you been crying?" Peter asked, standing up, it did sound like his little sister was indeed crying.

Silence greeted him on the other end, before she said, ignoring the question, "Can you come and pick me up?"

"Yeah…sure…definitely." Peter stood up, about to walk out the door, before he asked, "Where are you?"

"Maybe…seven or so miles off the resort. East, I think. It's beside a café called," she paused for a brief moment, as if reading something, before mumbling the café's name.

"What on earth were you doing seven miles off the resort?" Peter grabbed his key to his room, as well as his wallet, "I might be a bit. You can wait a little can't you? I'm going to have to borrow a car…"

"I'll be…I'll be fine, Peter. Just come as soon as you can."

Who in the world could he borrow a car from? He didn't exactly have any friends on the resort, but when there's a will there's a way.

"Hold the elevator!" someone called, Peter hadn't even remembered clambering into the elevator; he was still thinking about how he could get a car without joyriding.

Putting his hand on the big glass doors, he waited for Mr. Beaverton, and another small, chubby woman with beady eyes and bucked teeth to climb in.

"Well, if it ain't Susan's boy!" Mr. Beaverton belted, punching the 'Lobby' button in the glass, "Peter, righ'? This's my wife."

The small woman said her hellos, as the Beaverton's tried for conversation, but Peter was still thinking about how he could get a car.

Lucy's voiced bothered had him, he knew how independent she normally was, not that she would never ask for help, but she always waited until she was sure she needed help. It also bothered him that she was off of the resort. He had a feeling it had to do with that Edmund kid, suddenly Peter felt like the world's lousiest brother. He had been caught up in his own problems with his girlfriend that he had forgotten to keep a closer watch on Lucy and her pastimes on the vacation.

He should've known, he should've known from when he walked in on them sleeping, that it wasn't going to end well. He was a guy; he knew how guys thought.

"Mr. Beaverton," a thought came to his head, "do you remember my little sister, Lucy?"

After a moment's consideration, Mr. Beaverton nodded, "Yeah, yeah. I think I remember Susan introducin' us."

"Well, I need to go and find her, she's gone off. I know barely where she is but…do you know about a place that I could very quickly rent a car?"

"No…sorry—" Mr. Beaverton apologized before being thumped on the arm by Mrs. Beaverton.

"Beaver! I'm surprised at you. It looks like this boy needs to find his sister quickly. Let him borrow our car."

* * *

Susan had wandered every inch of the resort, meandering with almost all of her senses shut, trying to figure out her feelings, and what was going on. She had kissed Caspian, and she had liked it. Still, she had to say that she had done much more with Peter and liked it even more. She reminded herself that she and Peter weren't getting along the best…and that Caspian always listened.

_Still, _she thought, _in three days where will I be? _She knew that she should be honest with Peter, and tell him what happened, but even telling him that could very quickly turn her from Peter's girlfriend to Peter's ex-girlfriend.

That thought didn't settle well in the young heiress. She had a famous name; Susan Paravel. Many people knew it, not to the point where magazines would lie about something she had said or done. Lots of people on the opposite end of the world knew her name and had things to say about her family. Not that being an heiress was all that great, but she would have traded all the money, all the fame that she had, to be able to continue introducing Peter as her boyfriend.

She knew what she had to do, she had to tell Peter everything. She felt like she owed it to him. To be honest, she felt simply awful. Apparently, Peter wasn't being so paranoid after all, he was being observant. She was the one who was being oblivious.

* * *

Lucy didn't really want to wait very long on the curb for Peter. Seeing people run through their inner city lives, running through the dirty streets wasn't exactly something Lucy wanted to do. So, after waiting a few moments, she stepped into the café.

It was a nice enough place, small tables crowded through the entire proximity of it, it seemed, the plastic-seated chairs and booths provided a very "McDonalds" look.

She slunk into a booth beside the window, so she could see if Peter pulled up near her. She wasn't all that hungry, but she ordered a coke and a small side of French fries from the cheap-looking, gum smacking waitress that smelled as if she had fumigated herself with five different discounted perfumes.

As she plummeted her fries into a small pool of ketchup, she felt her eyes burning. How could Edmund have lied to her? Again.

Not that she was particularly all right with his drinking habits, but he said he was trying to quit, and that was effort. She had never known any alcoholics before, and didn't know how much effort was required to quit drinking, but she did know that it took a lot of effort to quit anything that was an addiction.

But then, _then_, Edmund had told her about his other lie. Yes, he had told her and not waited for her to find out from some other source, but the fact that he had waited until after she had asked him if there was anything else, well, that was the lie.

Still, it was what he was lying about. They had resumed "making the most of it", curled up comfortably in an old large (once again, moth-eaten,) armchair. Lucy was fronting, kept it going, though much of Edmund's weight was over her own. When, all of a sudden, he just stopped, sat up, and held handfuls of black hair in his fists.

"What's the matter?" she asked, feeling rather lonely, all of a sudden.

"I can't…I just can't…"

"What can't you do?" Lucy asked, compassionately.

He stayed quiet for a moment, before the words started coming out of his mouth non-stop. He told her everything. She wanted to turn back the clock as she ran out of the old apartment building.

Fifteen minutes later, she was still sad and angry; unknowingly she had taken the glass saltshaker and had begun to shake it onto the fries vigorously. She grabbed another one with her fingers; the tips of them covered in grease, and threw it vengefully into the ketchup.

After sticking the fry into her mouth, she spit it out immediately. "Shouldn't have gone so heavy on the salt." She murmured, eyeing the plate with the guesstimate of three inches of white slat covering the food as she pushed it away.

She felt her mobile vibrate against her thigh, checking the caller ID, half hoping that it was Edmund, calling to make amends, to appease. But, the screen read; _Peter_. Picking up, she tried to sound cheerful, "Hullo." She said.

"I'm at the front of that diner, where are you?"

"I'm inside."

She heard the soft chimes of the bells on the café's door, as she saw Peter take a seat next to her. "What happened?" he asked his sister, who had looked down and started to cry.

"He lied to me…I love him…and he lied to my face." She cried, leaning against her brother's consoling shoulder, "Peter, I wanna go home."

"All right, " he said sympathetically, knowing what it felt like to have your heart broken, "when we get back to the resort, I'll call the airport and see if we can get our tickets exchanged for an earlier flight. Then I'm going to have a little chat with Edmund…"

"No!" Lucy sat up completely, "Don't. Let it go…please? I just want to get away and forget this whole trip ever happened."

* * *

Just as Lucy felt depressed, Edmund was fuming. Lucy just ran out when he tried to explain himself, to say that he really did feel strongly for her and that he had just made a mistake, but she had run away. Besides that, he had just gotten fired from his job at the checkout counter. He seriously felt like he needed a drink, he hadn't felt like that since he met Lucy.

"Oi! Just!"

Edmund heard his name called, he dreadfully turned around to see Lucy's older brother, Peter, storming towards him. Great, just great, Edmund thought, as if today wasn't bad enough. "What?" he practically spat.

"You tell me." Peter said, coldly. "When I came to pick up my little sister, she was bawling her eyes out, she told me about your little _bet_. I figured out about a million ways to rearrange your face, but I decided not to. Don't get me wrong—it was Lucy who asked me not to hurt you. For some reason she still loves you."

Edmund wrinkled his eyebrows; _did he just say the "l" word?_ "Look, I do care about Lucy!"

"Do you? You have a god-awful way of showing it, then. You lie to her, cop her out of her innocence—"

"I never did that!" Edmund shouted back.

"We both know you were going to." He glared, paused, and then went on, "I've seen guys like you before. Actually, I feel sorry for you." He spat out the words, throwing them on the floor, "You just broke the heart of the one girl who's ever—who probably ever will—give a damn about you. If I were you, I wouldn't be able to live with myself. "

With that, Peter left; he had done his job as Lucy's older brother and left Edmund feeling more dead than alive, and more sorry than ever.

* * *

"…and I'm sorry." Susan said, "I shouldn't have ever led you on." She closed her eyes, "This entire trip was a big mistake."

Caspian shrugged, "Understood. So, you guys going back to England?"

She nodded, "Yeah."

They stood in remotely awkward silence before Susan said, "See that girl over there?" she motioned to a blonde girl tanning by the pool, "she's a movie star's daughter. You might have better luck with her. But, a word of advice; don't bet on her."

Caspian shot back surprised, "You knew?"

"I figured it out when Lucy was crying about Edmund. She mentioned something about a bet with his roommate. That's you." They stood for a few more moments, "What are you waiting for? She's not going to just lay there forever." She shoved Caspian over to where the blonde girl was tanning.

One down, one to go, She thought, as she left the poolside area and headed inside the lobby where Peter was waiting with his, Susan's and Lucy's luggage on a cart, "Ready?" he asked.

"Where's Lu?"

"Watching the fish," he motioned towards the window, where Lucy stood by the base of the giant tank watching the schools of fish swim by, "she's so sad." He observed, seeing how small she looked.

"Well, she's heartbroken, Pete. It happens to everybody." They were talking quietly, Susan turned back to Peter, "You're an amazing brother to her, you know."

"She's growing up on me." He sighed, "I feel like bursting into a chorus of '_Sunrise, Sunset'_" he chuckled.

"I'm sorry," she said, "we shouldn't have even come here." They stared at each other, "But at least one good thing came from this, I can finally say this" She said, staring into Peter's eyes.

And then she did it.

She said it.

The three most romantic words a person could say, "I love you."


	10. Go Get Her

**Go Get Her **

**A/N: Enojy, if you dare! Insert scary music now! **

**Dislcaimer: I don't own Narnia, or the song 'Forever & Always' by Taylor Swift, lyrics are contained in this chapter **

Compared to the Cair Paravel, the first class airplane looked rather dowdy, not that Lucy cared, as she found her seat, four rows in front of Peter and Susan, she had her iPod plugged into her ears, blaring the music into her eardrums, almost making them burst.

She stared into the green carpet of the aisle as the circle patters fuzzed out as salty droplets accumulated at the sides of her eyes. They were several hundred miles up in the air and she had almost been on the plane for two hours as her iPod continually blared into her ears, causing them to pulsate at the high volume.

"'_Cause it rains in your bedroom, everything is wrong, it rains when you're here, and it rains when you're gone." _Lucy listened to her iPod and couldn't think of another song that more applied to her life, she turned the volume up to the point where she couldn't turn it up any more and listened to Taylor Swift's voice remind her of her relationship problems, "_'Cause I was there when you said forever and always" _

She has taken out a spiral notebook and she had written "Edmund" in a blue pen and scribbled over it in red marker, doing so for several pages, "_Oh, I stare at the phone and he still hasn't called, and you feel so low you can't feel nothin' at all," _the country singer's accent vibrated in Lucy's skull, as she silently mouthed the next lines, "_and you flash back to, when we said forever and always," _

The red marker slipped, leaving a long red mark across her hand, but providing enough mark against the paper to make a half of a heart on the white paper on the exterior of Edmund's name.

A stewardess carried a cart by, accidentally bumping into Lucy's shoulder. The earbuds slipped out of her ears, falling into her lap, she could still hear the music clearly coming out of them, "_and it rains in your bedroom, everything is wrong, it rains when you're her and it rains when you're gone." _

"Jeez, those are loud." Lucy mumbled quietly, rubbing her temples and feeling her head ring as the song finished. _"Cause I was there when you said forever and always. You didn't mean it, baby, you said forever and always. Yeah." _

"I was wondering how long you were going to keep them in." a voice sounded next to Lucy, she turned and saw the man seated next to her. "Interesting song choice, it's good, but to listen to it on repeat for two hours straight? You must really like it."

She had only seen the back of his head earlier, seeing as he was staring out of the window when she sat down, a mess of reddish brown curls, but now saw that his face was somewhat familiar. Where had she seen him before? Then her iPod changed songs to "_Stone_" by her favorite band, and suddenly she knew where she had. "You're Tumnus from _Tumnus and the Fauns_."

He sighed, as if he was tired of getting recognized everywhere, "Yes."

Under any other circumstances, Lucy would've gone into super-fan mode and started jabbering a mile-a-minute about how much she loved their music, how she had all their CDs, and how awesome he looked in their cover to their third album '_Pink Umbrella'_ in the red scarf. Instead, mostly because of her melancholy she said, "I like your music." And continued to scribble over Edmund's name.

"Thank you."

"You don't happen to have a red marker on you, do you?" Lucy asked, seeing as her own marker was dry.

Tumnus shook his head, "Sorry…" he paused as to indicate that he didn't know her name.

"I'm Lucy," She said, the ringing in her head disappearing, "Lucy Pevensie."

From that small talk came out, talking about the weather, sports and everything, "I know you're a pretty nice guy, from talking to you and reading interviews and all, but I was wondering if you've ever done anything really wrong to a girl, like breaking her heart, ripping it out of her chest and then playing football on it?"

A bit surprised by what she just said, all the rockstar could say was, "Good guys can do some pretty rotten stuff. Not that we mean to, mind you, but we're human. Often our girls put us on harder standards than everybody else, and we'll slip up."

"Well he meant it." Lucy said, glumly, "He put a bet on me."

"Did this guy know you when he bet on you, were you friends or even acquaintances?"

She hadn't thought of that before, slowly she said, "No, he didn't even know my name."

"There you go, then. All that means is that he was interested in the way you look before he met you,"

"He did seem to really like me later on…"

"There you have it." Tumnus said, he was happy that he had solved this for this girl. He wasn't, however, expecting her face to fall.

"Oh, no. Oh, no."

"What is it?" he asked, surprised.

"Well…I've left the country. We never got this whole thing sorted out. We never will." She fell, "Added to that, he still lied to me…and lied about lying."

She spun her entire story to Tumnus, from the plane ride down to the Bahamas all the way to when she had first boarded onto that plane, half wishing that there would be a weather delay and half wishing that she could just transport herself back to England in a split second. Still, that hadn't been invented yet, and the skies were as clear as if an angel had taken a giant feather duster and swiped through the sky, taking all the storm clouds with it. She had thought it unfair, why was the rest of the world sunny and bright whilst she had a sickening storm in her stomach?

* * *

Several hours before Lucy met and begun talking to Tumnus, Edmund had sluggishly dragged his feet through the dirty carpet and passed the peeling paint of his apartment building into his own drafty housing.

He had been contemplating what Peter had said, _"__You just broke the heart of the one girl who's ever—who probably ever will—give a damn about you. If I were you, I wouldn't be able to live with myself"_

It rang in his ears, and he could practically see the airplane lifting off, taking Lucy with it, and leaving no time for apologies.

He slammed his apartment door behind him, almost cracking the wood of the door apart, he was surprised to see Caspian staring at the television screen. The signal was bad, picture fuzzy and there was a pitchy note, dragging on forever.

"What are you doing here?" Caspian asked, clicking the worn-out button on the old remote, the noise stopped instantly.

"I live here." Edmund grumbled, shuffling into the kitchen. Caspian followed closely through the old wooden doorframe, scaring away some bugs that were scurrying across the old and worn linoleum tiles.

Edmund opened the refrigerator and pulled out a clear bottle with a long neck and a yellow-white liquid inside of it.

"Where'd that come from?" Caspian asked, "You're not supposed to keep that in the house."

Edmund unscrewed the top to the bottle, and was about to put it to his lips when Caspian grabbed it out of his hand, holding it above his head, "Uh-uh, man. I thought you were calling it quits?"

Edmund tried to grab it away, but it was too high above his reach, "I _was. _But what does it matter? My life's going downhill anyway—"

"And if you go back to drinking you're only going to go down faster." He paused, "What about Lucy? I thought you really cared about her?"

"Of course I do." Edmund said, pulling himself up to sit on the counter, "I love her, but what's the point? She'll be in England by tomorrow."

Caspian paused, "You love her, right?"

"Yes." Edmund said, hitting a spider on the counter with his shoe.

"Positive?"

"Yes."

"Would you be willing to uproot everything for her?"

After a moment's thought, Edmund said, "Yes."

"Then," Caspian pulled out a slip of white paper and a familiar-looking blue casing from his pockets, then slipped out of the kitchen and came back with two duffle bags in hand, and Edmund's guitar in a black case, "you'd better get a move on, dude. You've got a plane to catch."

"But—what about—"

"Get your passport renewed when you get there. Plane leaves soon," he gestured out the doorframe, "need a ride?"

"But…my ticket…"

"Trumpkin and I'll pay for it. Get goin'!" he said, picking up one of Edmund's bags himself.

"Caspian?" Edmund asked, trying as hard as he could to not seem too sentimental or too girly, he said, "Thanks, man."

They clasped each other's forearms and hit shoulders, clapping each other on the back to complete the "man-hug"

"Now," Caspian was practically shoving his—now former—roommate out the door, "go get her."


	11. The Girl in 4230B

_**A/N: Raise your hand if you want an epilogue after this. **_

_**This final chapter is on the short side, but I kind of like it. Thank you to all of you who reviewed any chapter in this! **_

_**I don't own Narnia. **_

_**I wrote a song for this chapter, which does belong to me, but I doubt people would want to steal it considering it sucks. **_

_**And, with that, please enjoy the final chapter in **__**Not Another Spring Break Story**_

_**The Girl in 4230B**_

As Edmund discovered, sitting on an airplane for eight to nine hours knowing the girl you love could be in any one of the many seats on the plane is extremely nerve-racking. He sat there, bouncing his leg up and down rapidly, twiddling his thumbs.

Caspian had driven him to the airport, after getting Edmund's passport renewed; the two friends said good-bye, which was harder than either had expected. They might have been boys, but they had come up together from the slums and had helped each other and supported each other. After all, if they were each living alone, who would have rolled Edmund on his side that one night he had too much to drink and convince him to go to AA?

Edmund felt like he was being rather stupid. He had just quit his other job (as a busboy) moved out of his apartment, and boarded a plane to a country he hadn't been in since he was nine. All to beg Lucy for forgiveness that she may, or may not give!

All he could mumble to himself when weighing the odds was, "I must got it really bad for her."

He was hoping that she would, forgive him. Still, the chances of that happening were, well, slim to none. He had scored major jerk points, possibly enough to take him from arse to bastard. There were differences on these things.

"God," he whispered to himself, "what am I going to say?" and after that the questions came pouring out, "How will I find her? Is it possible to search through the whole of England to find her? Can I stay in England? Don't I have to become a citizen again? Where will I live? Would it be legal to live on my own? Is she gonna even give me the time of day?"

He began to see that he had made a rather rash decision. Staring out the window, the sky was sunny and cloudless. He tried to find a small and fluffy one, but he couldn't even find that. Eventually, he stuck in his own ear buds and fell asleep to his own music.

He woke up several hours later; the sky indicated that, dark rain clouds filled the sky, and there was even some rain that fell, "Looks like we're getting closer to England." Edmund murmured to himself.

That was one of the few things that he remembered about England, the cruddy weather. He'd get used to rain eventually, but it would be a major adjustment compared to the unvarying sunshine of the Bahamas.

He listened to the rain tap on the window, and the rhythm of his bouncing leg, he hummed a tune in rhythm with that, and smiled, that gave him an idea.

Taking out a piece of paper and a pen, he began scribbling on it furiously, that gave him an idea.

He had used up a whole notebook, but he was finished. It wasn't very good, but he wasn't a very word-smart person. He was surprised to learn that they would be landing very shortly after that. Had eight hours already gone by?

He pulled out an air guitar and practiced playing it, until he was excused off the airplane after they landed.

* * *

Lucy waved good-bye to Tumnus, and began to look for her own luggage on the conveyer belt-like machine. Surrounded by a sea of people, Lucy tried to figure out which bag was hers amongst the din. She had grabbed her suitcase and was about to make a beeline for the door when she heard a familiar musical chord form behind her.

That couldn't be, could it? Most people in the large pool of the crowd turned around to see what was going on, but Lucy stood stationary.

From a platform far behind her, she heard the familiar tune accompanied by a familiar voice. He was singing, not with the most amazing voice you've ever heard, but it was a nice enough voice. Still, it was the lyrics that made Lucy almost want to cry; several tears did creep their way up into the corners of her eyes.

"_I first saw you across the hall, _

_I didn't mean to fall,_

_Never thought that I'd fall_

_But I was_

_Playin' on emotions, _

_Messin' with devotions, _

_My secret's out, _

_And now you know,_

_What it was about_

_You were above,_

_I didn't know I was in love, _

_Reflections against the water,_

_And I'm gettin' hotter_

_Hotter and hotter_

_Hotter and hotter_

_Exchanging heat,_

_Sharing a seat _

_Watching your silver crown,_

_You walked away from me,_

_Left me by the sea,_

_And I'm goin' down._

_I'm goin' down._

_But I was_

_Playin' on emotions, _

_Messin' with devotions, _

_My secret's out, _

_And now you know,_

_What it was about_

_I first saw you across the hall, _

_I didn't mean to fall,_

_Never thought that I'd fall_

_So here and right now,_

_I'm giving a flat out apology, _

_Please don't leave me feeling _

_So empty _

But I was

_Playin' on emotions, _

_Messin' with devotions, _

_My secret's out, _

_And now you know,_

_Yeah, now you know,_

_You know,_"

He continued on after that, speaking, "I came pretty much all the way across the world mostly to sing that. I hurt her, okay? But now all I want to do is tell her how sorry I am." There was a pause and then, "So why don't you turn around, Lucy, so I can say that to your face?"

The crowd cleared from around her, leaving only her, turning around slowly, to face him. Their eye's met, and it occurred to Lucy that hers were wet.

He sat his guitar down on the platform and ran to her, everyone in the airport's eyes were on the two.

"Can you possibly forgive me?" Edmund asked, sheepishly, once he reached her.

Lucy stuck out her hand and let it smack him across the face, a loud noise coming from it, several tourists there gasped, "That was for lying to me." She said, but then, she placed her arms around his neck, "And this," she looked him in the eyes, "is for apologizing." She leaned in to Edmund, but he started using his mouth for talking.

"I really am so sorry. I still can't believe I could have done that. I was a real jerk and—" Edmund would have gone on, until Lucy cut him off.

"Could you just kiss me?"

Edmund smiled and leaned into her, their lips met and crashed together, Lucy's arms flung around his neck, his arms found their way to her waist, he stroked the side of her ribcage with the palm of one of his hands.

There was a loud "Aww," coming from the group of tourists that had watched them make up, and a loud, "Oh, come on!" coming from a certain Peter Pevensie, who had seen most of it, and wasn't happy at his little sister's forgiveness capacity. Susan had to calm him down with her own lips.

Back to the younger pair, the crowd had began to disperse, leaving only a few clusters of people waiting to see the aftermath, they had pulled their lips apart, Edmund's face had wet streaks on it from Lucy's tears, he wiped them off of her face with his thumb.

Lucy asked, before pulling Edmund closer to her, again, "Why'd you come all this way, just to apologize to me?"

"Because," Edmund said, repeating Lucy's own words, before closing the gap, "I didn't want to spend the rest of my life wondering what would've happened it I took a chance the girl in 4230B."


	12. Epilouge

**Epilogue **

**Ten Years Later**

Twenty-four year old Edmund Just laid in the double bed alone, covers fitting over his stomach, reading some textbook for one of his college courses. The bedroom was warm, with appealing teal colored walls and a nice light up on the ceiling, the trigger to turn it on and off was on Edmund's side of the bed, he might have had to sleep on the end closer to the wall, but that wasn't so bad when you thought about it. For starters, he had the power to turn the light on and off when he pleased, and she couldn't do anything about it. Then, of course, it provided excuse to crawl over her in the middle of the night, if they were both still awake.

With the cushiony sound of the refrigerator door closing, Lucy came up to the bedroom door. Leaning on the doorframe she said, "Hey," before locking the door and entering the room.

Edmund thought she looked out of place in their apartment, everything they had gotten they had gotten on sale or from the two Pevensies—Peter and Susan before they decided to remodel, and it was a very collage-looking thing, Edmund thought that Lucy really stood out with her prettiness—she may not have been the most gorgeous thing on the block to other people's standards, but when you've been in love with one girl for ten years straight, you see how beautiful she is.

And if Lucy stood out in the collage-looking apartment, the sliver diamond-studded engagement ring on her left hand finger looked even more out of place.

"Hey." He said back, turning the page of his textbook, "Couldn't find anything to eat?"

"Besides cold pizza and spaghetti–o's or Susan's stuff? Nah. You know," she turned her back to Edmund as she stripped out of her clothes—still being a bit unnerving for whatever reason, considering he had seen her in less than that before—and put on her baggy nightshirt, her modesty made him smile, "we should really get better food, you never know…" she paused and then yelled, "Incoming!" and plopped into the bed next to Edmund. Snuggling into the covers, she laid next to him, leaning on his chest.

"We probably should, but we can't afford it. With both of us going to school _and_ working, we still need to pay rent. We're not getting two jobs, either. I don't see enough of you as it is…what?" he said, noticing how Lucy's sapphire eyes sparkled up at him as he talked, putting the textbook down.

"What? A girl can't watch her fiancé talk?" she smiled, leaning further into Edmund's chest.

"We're not doing anything tonight." Edmund sighed, recognizing the familiar mischievous gleam in Lucy's eyes.

"And why not?"

"Because your brother and his wife are on the other end of this flat? And I've got a midterm tomorrow."

"Have it your way, love, I'll get you to change your mind before the night is over."

Edmund pretended to roll his eyes, but he knew that she could. She always could. He twisted his own engagement ring on his finger and tried to think of something to say, all he could utter out was, "What a day."

Lucy nodded in agreement, "It really seemed…closer tonight, didn't it?"

All day they had dealt with friends and family coming in to pay them a visit, Susan and Peter (who were going to stay in Edmund and Lucy's flat with them until the wedding, and for a little bit afterward to feed the plants and their dog) were the first ones there, smiling in, Susan had said to Lucy, "Well, Lu, two more days! Getting nervous?"

They talked quite a bit about the wedding, food, caterers, the hall for the reception, and on and on about the details. Once or twice Susan gripped her stomach and made an uncomfortable noise, resulting in Peter getting frantic and asking if they needed to go to the hospital, Susan would just remind her husband that she wasn't due for another month.

After them, Lucy's parents came, along with the whole of the procession, apparently, no one could leave town just for the rehearsal and then the wedding the next day, they all had to come a day early.

Eventually, Edmund and Lucy were dealing with over twenty people in their flat designed for a small family of three or less.

Edmund put his arm around Lucy's shouldesr, pulling her in to a hug, before kissing her lips gently, "I can't believe it, when we wake up tomorrow, it'll be the day before we get married. But, I have to admit, it's taken us a long time to get here."

Even though they had been in love for ten years solid, their relationship had been far from ideal. They had broken up and gotten back together more times than they could count throughout their teenage lives, once they had only been broken up for five minutes before getting back together. But that was a strange scenario, involving the school lunch cafeteria, lots of yelling, a ball of twine, Edmund's friend Corin yelling 'Oh snap!', and a big detention for public displays of affection in school when it was all over.

"…Stop that!" he said when he felt her chilly feet running up and down his leg.

Lucy sighed, "You make it so hard…" then she inhaled loudly as if she remembered something, "Oh! I got someone to play for us at the reception! Tumnus!"

"Didn't that band break up a long time ago?"

"Yeah, but Tumnus's my friend. He's said he'd get some of the guys play for us for the same price of a deejay."

"That was nice of him." Edmund picked his textbook back up.

Lucy nodded, and tried to find something else to say, "Say," she changed the subject, "did you hear the results of Susan's ultrasound? I was too busy to hear what she said."

"Yeah." Edmund said, playing stupid, "I did."

"Would you tell me?" Lucy said, playing impatient, but they both knew they could continue on like this for hours without getting angry.

"It's either a boy," he said, putting emphasis on the word 'boy', "or a girl."

"Aww," Lucy swooned, "I'll have a little nephew in June!"

"Yeah." Edmund said, being a man, rather uninterested in that subject.

They fell into a moment's silence before, "Am I seriously that boring to you?"

"Sorry?" Edmund looked down at the girl who was lying across his chest, bewildered.

"You'd rather read that and make small talk than…" she stopped, trying to word it correctly.

"Not that I'd rather. I just don't want Peter to walk in on us again."

This made Lucy laugh out loud, besides walking into the rather innocent position at the Cair Paravel all those years ago, Peter had also walked in on a not so innocent "position" a few months back, "He does have nasty luck when it comes to that, doesn't he?" she paused, "You do know that I locked the door…right?"

"You've got my number now, don't you?" he smiled, turning on his side into his fiancé.

"Uh-huh." Lucy said, in a singsong voice, kissing him softly.

He returned the kiss, but let his hand wander to the wall as he turned off the switch so that they were surrounded by warm darkness.

He knew he already asked this, but he loved hearing her answer, "Lucy Pevensie, will you marry me?" he asked, his voice growing hoarse.

She whispered in the dark, her voice barely audible. "Yes."

_**A/N: If this was more on the risqué side, forgive me. Just…I don't know, keep in mind that they're older and engaged to be married in two days and all that. **_


End file.
